Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Happy Eater, Hyvää Pääsiäistä, Glad Påsk! Spring is here, the sun is shining and life is good. A few days ago I met up with my friend Kirsikka in Helsinki and it was crazy to see how it's almost a different season there than it is here in Vantaa. There's absolutely no snow in the city while Vantaa is covered in it. We went to eat and get some shopping done. Here are some pictures:

My friend told me about this new little IKEA type shop in Kamppi they opened a while back. It was super cheap and sold a bunch of really random stuff from kitchen supplies to golf clubs. 

Salad with feta cheese and tofu from Teatteri

I've passed this cafe called La Torrefazione tens of times and always thought it looked really cozy but I've never gone in. Luckily we did, because the place was really nice and the coffee was very good.

Jacket Zara, Bag DKNY, Jeans DrDenim

Kirsikka & me

Since I woke up at 6am today (can't believe it myself) I had a lot of time on my hands and decided to make some Peanut butter cupcakes for Easter. I got the recipe from this awesome baking blog, called Kinuskikissa. They came out so delicious and I really recommend making a big badge for the holidays!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes  (makes 12 big cupcakes)   ( -225° -15 minutes)

• 150g milk chocolate
• 150g margarine
• 1½ dl sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3½ dl flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2½ tbsp cocoa powder
• 1½ milk or cream
• 1½ salted peanuts

Frosting:

• 2½ dl whipped cream
• 1½ tbsp vanilla sugar
• 1½ dl peanut butter

On top:

• Small chocolate eggs 
• grated chocolate

Beat the eggs and the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to mix.

Grate the chocolate and set aside.

Combine the dry ingredients in a a seperate bowl. Alternate between mixing half of the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, then half of the milk and so on.

Add the nuts and the grated chocolate into the mix and stir. Put the batter into the cupcake pan and bake.

Let the muffins cool.

To make the frosting you'll need peanut butter, vanilla sugar and whipped cream.

 Mix the whipped cream and the vanilla sugar until fluffy.

Add the peanut butter and continue beating.

Frost the cupcakes.

Use a peeling knife to carve chocolate curls out of the remaining chocolate. Decorate the cupcakes with chocolate eggs and the sprinkle with chocolate.

Enjoy!

-Suvi

Chocolate Cupcakes

With my crazy work schedule, it's ridiculous how little I actually see my family, considering I still live at home. There are weeks (evening shifts especially) when I only see them on the weekends and that's really unfortunate because my family is really important to me. I thought saturday would be a great day to correct the situation and have a "family day".

I started my day by making breakfast for my family and a walk with my dog.

Then my brother and I decided to bake some cupcakes. I found this recipe for chocolate cupcakes using Daim chocolate (one of my favorites) from this great baking blog called Kinuskikissa, so we decided to try it out. We also made carrot cupcakes. Heres the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes:

Daim Cupcakes (makes about 15 cupcakes)                                     

• 200 g Daim chocolate (or which ever you prefer)
• 150 g butter
• 1 ½ dl sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 ½ dl flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 ½ tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 ½ dl milk or cream

Chocolate Frosting 

• 120 g unsweetened chocolate
• 150 g butter (room temperature)
• 150 g confectioners sugar (sifted)
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat the butter and the sugar together to form a light mixture.

2. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

3. In another bowl mix the dry ingredients.

4. Grate 100 g of the chocolate.

5. Combine the wet & the dry ingredients.

6. Add the grated chocolate into the mixture.

7. Put a spoonful of the mixture into the muffin pan. Put a piece of chocolate in the midde and then top off with more dough.

8. Bake in 225 celsius (430 fahrenheit) for 12-15 minutes.

9. To make the frosting, melt the chocolate in a bowl placed in a saucepan of hot water. Let cool to room temperature.

10. In a bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add in vanilla & chocolate. Beat until smooth.

Later on we went to watch the movie Hugo. I've heard so many good things about it so I had to go see it.  The movie is based on a book and it's about a orphan boy that lives in a clock tower in Paris. After he's father passes away he tries to solve his mystery. The movie was really interesting and I loved the way it had been shot, the scenes were really beautiful. I can recommend it to everyone. 

With my little brother Veikko

-Suvi

Sun in the sky you know how I feel

What a beautiful day it's been. The sun has been shining all day and it's pretty warm outside. I think the worst is over and spring has finally begun! I woke up really late today and was feeling pretty tired from last night so I felt like lounging in the house all day, but thankfully forced myself to go outside and enjoy the sun!

Here's my outfit from the night before:

Shirt Forver21, jeans Dr denim, shoes Bianco

Today I finally decided to get a new phone. My old phone gave up and broke for the millionth time. I swear, that phone is like a cockroach...I've dropped it on the floor and gotten it wet so many times I've stopped counting and it's given up working multiple times but it always recovers in some miraculous way! This time the backlight stopped working so I thought, maybe it's time to buy a new one.

I'm a firm Apple supporter and really felt like buying the 4S, but instead I bought this one.

I also decided to check out this new outlet they opened near my house. It's called Oh My Gosh and they sell a lot of brands, including Converse, Dr. Martens, Lee, CTRL and Wrangler. The selection was pretty good and I found a top and a pair of jeans:

After I was done shopping I decided to try this class at my gym called Nike Training Club: Get strong!

They have these classes at my gym for a couple of months every now and then and I heard they're really tough so I wanted to see for myself. All I can say is oh my goodness! The class consisted mostly of different types of squats, planks and jumps. I can't remember the last time I was sweating that much but I'm definitely going to try it again.

I was so hungry when I got home so I decided to try this new recipe I found:

Sweet Potato Soup:

•  2 yellow bell peppers
• 1/4 celery stick
• 1/2 parsnip
• 1 carrot
• 1 sweet potato
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt
• cayenne pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 200g paprika cream cheese
•  1,5 l water

     On top:

•  100g cashews
• oil
• chili powder

 Directions:

1. Peel and dice all the vegetables up.

2.Cut bell peppers in halves and remove seeds. Grill them (or use the grill setting in your oven) for about     20 minutes, or until the skin can be removed.

2. Fry the onions and the garlic until brown. Add all the rest of the vegetables, the lemon juice, spices and the water. Let boil for 30 minutes.

3. Puree everything & add cream cheese.

4. Fry cashews in oil, add chili powder.

-Suvi