We just can’t get enough of pomegranate seeds at the moment:
We add them to our daily granola, sprinkle them over fruit platters and grace the salad for dinner with them.
Sometimes I fill a small jam jar to the brim with plain yogurt and pomegranate seeds and add it to Noelle’s school lunch.
Today I used the seeds (not Noelle) in a recipe and baked moist and fluffy chocolate cupcakes.
And lots of them!
If you love chocolate, this recipe will be simply perfect: the small cakes virtually melt in your mouth with their slightly tart sweetness, and the pomegranate seeds make them extra moist.
We served creamy cinnamon hot chocolate along with them, from the world’s prettiest enamel dishes.
Is there a better way to spend a dark winter’s afternoon?
I particularly like this enamel set of dishes, as it is a great mix of modern shapes and nostalgic materials – ideal also for outdoors!
I baked the cupcakes directly inside of the espresso cups, it worked beautifully.
Chocolate pomegranate muffins
Ingredients (for approx. 15 muffins):
1 stick, plus 3.5 Tbsp butter
1.5 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup, plus 5 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 ¼ cup pomegranate juice
1 tsp vinegar
seeds of one pomegranate
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix butter and sugar, then separate eggs into yolks and egg whites. Add egg yolks to butter/sugar mixture and incorporate by stirring.
2. Now add flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix well.
3. Stir in pomegranate juice and vinegar, then add pomegranate seeds and mix well.
4. Lastly, whip egg whites to stiff peeks and fold into dough. This is what gives the muffins their very light and fluffy consistency.
5. Grease the baking tins with a bit of butter and sprinkle with cocoa powder.
Fill dough into tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Best cinnamon hot chocolate
Ingredients (makes 4 cups):
1 quart of milk
2.5 oz bittersweet chocolate
2.5 oz milk chocolate
one pinch of cinnamon
1. Heat the milk in a pot together with a pinch of cinnamon. Chop chocolate into small pieces, place both bittersweet and milk chocolate in a bowl and melt in microwave or bain-marie.
2. When milk is hot, slowly stir in the melted chocolate whith the help of a wire whisk. Depending on your preference you can use a little more or less chocolate. Once the hot chocolate is poured into cups, add some frothy milk and a pinch of cinnamon and enjoy while warm.
I believe, I already wrote it down before, but just to be sure:
HOW TO CUT A POMEGRANATE (without making a mess).
Cut pomegranate in half with a knife, hold one half of the pomegranate closely above a bowl of water, cut side down.
Now take a wooden spoon and vigorously whack the pomegranate’s rind – I always use the wrong end of a wooden pestle (the one for making Caipirinhas) for this.
The seeds drop into the water, the white fleshy parts will float to the top and can be easily removed from the water’s surface.
Now all you need is a strainer – done!
By the way:
Simply the world’s best way to spend a rainy and cold evening: I went to a thermal bath with the kids yesterday, and it was so much lovelier and more relaxing than expected!
Especially if otherwise you don’t like to go swimming all that much – there you can simply plunge in and enjoy the peace and quiet.
Except, when the kids force you to dive into the cold pool outside and swim a few rounds in it. Then you will not enjoy the peace and quiet.
Me: "I will not get in there now!”
Ben: "Why not? We had to, too!”
Me: "BECAUSE I AM THE MOTHER! THAT’S WHY!”
Ben: "But that’s not a real reason?”
Me: "... and, as we all know, according to the parental code of law, paragraph §245, section 3.5., mothers do not have to dive into the cold pool. Please make a note and learn by heart.”
I did dive in after all.
Unbelievable superhero that I am.
(Oh, and the best time to go is during the week in the evening when it will be pleasantly empty.)
Sources of supply:
Enamel dishes, metal basket, linen dish towels: Babyssimo
Love,
Joanna
Translated by Ginell Studio.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen