3 espresso desserts for your Easter buffet!

Do you love coffee?

And chocolate?

Or do you need an idea for a delicious dessert for Easter? 

Well, then, you came exactly to the right place. 

(On the other hand: when is this not the right place? Never!) 

For I have prepared a little something. 

For your Easter buffet or for every day. 

To impress your mother-in-law or to enjoy all by yourself. 

And since, as far as I know, my mother-in-law was never particularly impressed by me as long as she lived, or probably was hardly ever actually aware of my presence, my choice is extremely simple: enjoyment! 

Coffee, espresso or cappuccino will be served alongside – each time perfectly selected to match the individual dessert’s aroma. 

How about an ice-cream sandwich consisting of caramel ice-cream accompanied by caramel cookies with fleur de sel? 

This I will serve with a Lungo Fondo containing a hint of caramel and chocolate. 

... or would you rather taste little chocolate cakes with crunchy chocolate-covered coffee beans inside? 

They harmonize wonderfully with a café latte made with a Lungo Magnifico which has a slightly spicy note. 

Or will you choose a delicately airy chocolate mousse with a hint of espresso? 

The perfect combination of bittersweet and light? 

Served with a strong espresso Ristretto with a hint of citrus? 

Whichever you decide to have – by all means choose the ice-cream sandwich, too. 

As this is so absolutely delicious that you will be instantly addicted and will have to gobble up every single one of them all by yourself in the following days. 

And, shaking your head in regret, you will negate other family members’ inquiries for more – counting the leftover sandwiches waiting for you in the freezer in your head with a slight panic. 

(I am talking about a friend of mine). 

I used the Jacobs Zauber capsules for my desserts. 

With 6 types of espresso and 4 types of coffee there is bound to be the matching aroma for every taste – so that everything harmonizes perfectly. 

It is quite easy to pick out the right variety with the Jacobs Zauber aroma wheel. 

DIY DECORATION:

If you wish to serve the desserts in a lovely way: 

Maybe you still have some of these small wooden Easter pendants, available everywhere at low prices (e.g. in the grocery stores’ seasonal aisle, such as these ones)?

My little figurines are from the flea market and, similar to my decoration idea for Christmas before last, I  sprayed them with craft spray and then removed the ribbons. 

The golden bunny rabbits had a pin sticking out their butts already, so I just stuck them into the small cakes. 

The other wooden eggs and tiny rabbits make for a pretty table decoration, napkin embellishment or name card holder. 

Espresso ice-cream sandwich

For the cookies:

1.8 oz bittersweet chocolate

1.8 oz chocolate

1.8 oz soft caramels or a scant 1/4 cup caramel sauce

1 pinch of salt

3.5 Tbsp butter, softened

½ cup cane sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 egg

½ cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 heaped Tbsp cacao powder, unsweetened 

1/2 Tbsp ground espresso 

a little Fleur de Sel 

Also:

Salted caramel ice-cream (e.g. by Häagen-Dazs) or any other favorite type of ice-cream 

Roughly chop chocolate into pieces, cut caramels into small pieces and add the salt. 

Whisk butter with sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy, whisk in egg. 

Mix flour, baking powder, ground espresso and cacao powder and fold into the butter mixture.  

Finally add the chocolate and caramel pieces and stir until a soft dough forms. 

Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. 

Pre-heat oven to 350° (convection oven to  315°).

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, form balls with a ¾” diameter, flatten slightly with the palm of your hand and place on the cookie sheet. 

Leave at least 1 ½ “ between the cookies, as dough will spread during baking.   

Sprinkle with a little fleur de sel (a very small amount!) and bake for about 10 minutes. 

Spread a scoop of ice-cream onto one cookie and flatten with a second cookie, level the edges with a knife. 

Immediately place back into the freezer and prepare the rest of the ice-cream sandwiches. 

Matching: Lungo Fondo by Jacobs.

Little coffee cakes

2 cups flour

7 Tbsp butter, softened

a heaped ½ cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cacao powder, unsweetened 

2 Tbsp dried coconut flakes

1 tsp ground coffee (e.g. Lungo)

2 Tbsp chocolate-covered coffee beans

4 Tbsp yogurt

4 Tbsp milk

Whisk sugar and egg with an electric mixer until creamy, add yogurt and whisk briefly. 

Mix flour, baking powder, ground coffee and cacao powder, add to the egg/butter mixture and fold in. 

Then add the dried coconut flakes. 

Roughly chop the chocolate coffee beans and add to the mixture. 

If the dough is too stiff add milk by the Tbsp. 

Fill dough into well greased small tins and bake at 350° for about 15-20 minutes.

Sprinkle with a little cacao powder and serve with whole chocolate-covered coffee beans. 

Perfect match: Lungo Magnifico by Jacobs.

The mousse has a wonderful chocolate taste with a hint of espresso and a delicately light consistency. 

Make sure to serve it with fresh berries or a fruity sauce (e.g. mango purée)! 

Espresso chocolate mousse

½ cup freshly made espresso 

1 tsp ground espresso + 1 Tbsp cacao powder, mixed 

½ cup sugar

1 cup whipping cream

4 eggs

Let espresso cool. 

Beat egg yolks in Bain Marie until fluffy: place a casserole with water on the stovetop and bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat to lowest setting (water should not boil), place a metal boil over pot – without its bottom touching the water. 

Whisk egg yolks until slightly fluffy, slowly add sugar and keep whisking until mixture is thick and creamy. 

Place the bowl over a pot with cold water, add espresso and whisk for an additional 2-3 minutes until mixture is creamy. 

Sift ground espresso and cacao powder on top of the mixture and fold in. 

Whip cream and fold into the cooled off mixture. 

Whisk egg whites until stiff, fold into mixture. 

Fill into small moulds and place into refrigerator for at least one hour. 

Perfect match: Espresso Ristretto by Jacobs.

If you really feel like trying one of the 3 espresso desserts now – or just feel like drinking a cup of coffee, you are in luck, as today I will raffle off 

5  x  10 varieties of Jacobs Zauber

+ 

1 capsule dispenser by Koziol!

among all the Liebesbotschaft readers. 

What you need to do to participate:

1. 

Tell me which variety of Jacobs Zauber you would like to try best. 

2. If you share the link to the give-away on Facebook you have DOUBLE the chances of winning. 

If you link the drawing on your blog, you have an EXTRA chance of winning!

NEW: if you share the give-away on your Instagram account, you have an EXTRA chance of winning! 

Please use hashtag #liebesbotschaft to do so and mark me on the picture – otherwise I will not be able to see it. 

Please feel free to take the above image (with text) with you for this.  

Please leave a note in your comment to let me know, too.

Everyone can participate – with or without blog.

You have to be registered to be able to leave a comment – to avoid mistakes and multiple drawings.

You can do this quickly and simply: HERE.

Please NO mails, you will be considered ONLY by leaving a comment.

The competition is open to all readers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Participation for minors only with consent of a parent or guardian. 

Jurisdiction of a court is excluded, prizes cannot be paid out in cash. 

IMPORTANT:
Please note that I do not contact the winners in writing – I publish them on the blog at the bottom of this post.
If the winners of the draw do not get in touch within two weeks I will raffle off the prize again. 

The competition starts now and ends on March 28, 2015. 

This post was created in loving collaboration with my mom and the support from Jacobs. 

Thanks to both of them!

Love,

Joanna

p.s. I will tell you about the yard sale tomorrow!

Thank you for translating this post to Eva Ginnell.

Beach waves spray + styliste ULTÎME giveaway!

Today’s post was written by my daughter Jil, the pictures were taken by me – enjoy! 

Love,

Joanna

Summer surely won’t arrive in Berlin for another while, as is typical for here the weather is grey and cool with briefly a little bit of sunshine. 

What’s nice about this: you can pamper yourself with a little beauty treatment for an afternoon! 

When my mom came to Berlin on a visit we tested a few new products, aside from drinking rose petal tea (officially the most photogenic variety of 2015).  

Especially when it comes to my hair, I consider it important that everything looks natural and not too coiffed.  

Some flowing structure, yet cool and always a bit “oh, I just woke up!”. 

This is where beach waves are absolutely perfect and at the same time an art in itself. 

What seems to just grow naturally on every model’s head is suddenly not that easy to recreate in your own bathroom. 

This time I had professional help for my trials: 

Schwarzkopf developed a new line of products that brings the trends into your home - styliste ULTÎME makes styling very simple. 

You can choose between:

styliste ULTÎME AMINO-Q HOLD, 

styliste ULTÎME BIOTIN⁺ VOLUME, 

styliste ULTÎME CRYSTAL SHINE 

and styliste ULTÎME SATIN FRIZZ CONTROL, 

 - however, I tested the ULTÎME SEA SALT BEACH LOOK products.

With the ULTÎME SEA SALT texturizing spray and powder you will come realistically close to the beach, even in March, because:  

The products do contain genuine sea salt without drying out your hair. 

And this is how you can achieve the beach waves look: 

For my waves I spray a generous amount of sea salt spray onto my damp hair and then scrunch it well. 

The next step depends on your hair structure! 

- If your hair is naturally wavy and curly, you can simply let your hair air-dry without a problem. 

- If you have a smooth hair structure I recommend you scrunch your ends and lengths well for a longer time, then twist your hair into little ponytails and firmly pin those down.  

Now you can blow-dry it all. 

- Afterwards I take some texturizing powder, rub it between my palms and apply it to the ends and lengths, this will make hair look sun- and wind-dried. 

A little bit onto your scalp for instant mega volume and great grip. 

A great tip for anyone with very damaged hair:  

Simply braid your still damp hair and let it dry overnight, this will avoid heat damage to the ends and will give them a rest during the night.  

Comb through the strands with your fingers in the morning and loosen everything up.  

Apply the powder as a finish – a completely heat-free (and consequently very damage-preventing) style. 

The nice thing about beach waves: 

Everyone can create their own version of them, play around with the look, maybe add some hairspray for better hold and you are ready for any spring party! 

In case you also feel like a fresh new look now, you can participate in the Schwarzkopf Instagram giveaway! 

Quick and easy:

1. Upload a picture to your public Instagram account, which shows your beach waves or your new favorite hairstyle in a particularly beautiful way and add a note which product you would prefer to test.  

Apart from the ULTÎME SEA SALT BEACH LOOK all other lines of products are here – the perfect inspiration.  

2. Only originally uploaded pictures are valid, no retrospectively tagged pictures. 

Add the hashtag #theultimestyle (make sure the spelling is correct!) as well as #liebesbotschaft, so that we are able to find your pictures (please feel free to also use #chillyjil, that way they will definitely arrive ;-)).

3. All uploaded and admitted pictures can be viewed in the  glam.de picture gallery. 

This is also the place where winners will be announced and notified. 

4. The give-away starts on April 8, so kick into gear: capture the first rays of sunshine :-)!

These are the prizes:

1^st prize: to take even better pictures, an Olympus Pen E-PL7 camera 

1-8th prize: a matching pair of sunglasses from Claudia Schiffer's collection for Rodenstock

1-24th prize: a product bundle from a line of products of your liking from styliste ULTÎME

And what is better suited for the warm season than to finally liberate your hair from underneath a knitted hat and to try something new? 

I am very curious to hear your opinion about my look and your ideas! 

*in collaboration with Schwarzkopf

Kisses from Berlin,

Jil

This post was translated by Ginnell Studio.

Easter decoration ideas: simple + pretty.

The prettiest Easter rubber stamps and very special Easter pendants to quickly embellish your Easter buffet – this is what I will show you today!  

The beautiful and delicate laser-cut Easter eggs made of strong paper can be…

- hung from blooming branches, 

- attached to monochrome Easter cards (for example with ribbon and Washi tape, so that the recipient can take them off and re-use them), 

- used as decoration for the table: tie them around napkins with a slim bow, 

- and attached to a box with an Easter gift as a gift tag: upgrades everything instantly. 

Silhouettes are usually rather playful/romantic: this one is very simple due to its graphic pattern and matches reduced, not tacky Easter décor very well. 

As you have probably noticed, I simply used the eggs from past years: 

Golden Easter eggs, mixed with chalkboard-paint Easter eggs and white chicken and goose eggs, which I quickly added number stickers to.  

In spite of the different colors they all harmonize wonderfully! 

I particularly like the “I’m glad you are here” and the “a little something for you” stamps, since they can not only be used at Easter but all year round. 

Sources of supply:

Laser-cut Easter pendants in 4 designs: AvieArt

Easter stamps: AvieArt

Gold do-it-yourself Easter eggs - instructions: HERE

Chalkboard Easter eggs: HERE

As I keep getting asked, I also looked up some natural eggs for you to order – if you prefer simple, non-colorful Easter decoration. 

Big white goose eggs: Amazon

Wild duck eggs (delicate, beautiful color): Amazon

Quail eggs (the very small ones in the pictures): Amazon

People who are looking for more this year and wish to not only treat their guests with Easter cake, Easter cookies and three types of chocolate cream, but also make them smile will find many ideas and appropriate recipes at my Easter dessert table !

Have fun!

Love,

Joanna

This post was translated by Ginnell Studio.

Cloud-like pancakes (again) + why I am going to buy fifteen sofas.

Do you want me to tell you what I do when circumstances create a really bad situation? 

I say something funny – something that does not match the seriousness of the situation at all. 

No problem can be so big and no challenge so profound that I could not make fun of it in the face of the worries that usually accompany it (note: circumstances never come alone –  they always bring the matching fear along to make sure you’re not bored, and have something to occupy your brain with!). 

And I unknowingly found out that it facilitates instant betterment for all such cases – and I also know why this is so. 

Circumstances want DRAMA, all old-style Hollywood movie with “OMG, everything is so bad, we will die/go bankrupt/starve/be lonesome and alone/fail/won’t make it/etc….”. 

So, at any rate, everything is very, very, very awful, you know what I mean. 

Imagine if someone who really wants to scare you, plants himself in front of you – and all you say to him is: “on a different note: I think your pants are one size too small. Looks like they cut into your thighs.” 

Excuse me, but is this intimidating at all? 

Would you feel that you are taken seriously – as the scare monger and all? 

Doesn’t the whole affair lose its effect a little, when the vis-à-vis does not treat it with the appropriate respect? 

Well, I don’t know.

I would feel a little silly. 

And this is why I decided: 

When everything seems totally awful (note: “seems”. What on earth could be totally awful for me? = what couldn’t God handle perfectly?) – when everything calls for drama and big emotions…I simply crack a joke. 

It doesn’t even have to be particularly funny – main thing is to take away the seriousness and heaviness. 

Admittedly, if you are mad, sad, devastated or depressed at the moment, one of the last things you want to do is laugh about it.  

That’s when I do it ANYWAY. 

Absolutely on purpose.

I will show you with a harmless example from last week-end, so that you understand the principle. 

My husband and I are out and about, talking about a financial investment concerning the loft. 

This discussion turns a little heated all of a sudden – LOL, bone of contention #1 between couples: money. Classic! And by no means a good thing. 

I am mad (only, because I, of course, have every reason to be mad!), he is, too (although he, of course, has absolutely no reason to be mad!), and then he says in an angry tone of voice: 

"Once we have concluded this and that project, you can buy a sofa. Then…well, then you can buy TWO sofas, for all I care!” 

Me (still angry, too): "No, then I want to buy…THREE sofas. No, FOUR.” 

He: "Then you can buy FIFTEEN sofas.” 

Me: "No, I want FIFTEEN HUNDRED AND TWELVE sofas.” 

He: "You can fill the WHOLE HOUSE with sofas.” 

Me: "I want to plaster the whole STREET with sofas.” 

He: "The whole city full of ONE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED FIFTEEN sofas.” 

Me: "My sofas shall reach beyond the country’s borders…” 

And so on.

I admit, it wasn’t a peak performance in terms of humor, but that unpleasant tension was suddenly completely gone. 

Nothing was bad anymore, with or without sofa, doesn’t matter anyway. 

No further discussion, no arguments, no “talking things out”. 

(and no, the argument wasn’t even about a sofa ;)).

If a frustrated Noelle writes to me from the States that “right now she forgets or loses everything that’s important”, of course I write back to her: 

"But that’s no problem, honey, the Americans have very potent Alzheimer medication. They are not even approved of here yet!”  

You get the principle?

I read in an advice column in a women’s magazine recently that one shouldn’t make fun of problems, as “the Universe” does not like humor or irony, and it would only aggravate things.  

I think this is the biggest nonsense of all times! 

If I have to mean everything just as I say it – I might as well die on the spot, because then all of this would not be no fun anymore. 

If I can’t make fun of the circumstances, everything will be infinitely difficult and complicated. 

(If, on the other hand, I make fun of it, circumstances might be just as difficult afterwards, but I won’t PERCEIVE them as such ;)).  

A day when you did not say something silly to make others smile is a bad day, in my eyes. 

Once you notice that there is a certain area in your life that you cannot (aren’t permitted/shouldn’t) make jokes about, it is most certainly the one area that creates the most tension and that needs it the most.  

Best to crack 5 jokes about it, and tell them to somebody, you’ll see! 

My motto in life is:

Rather say silly things five times too often than live with too little humor in your everyday life. 

Rather look at everything with a sense of humor than to attach too much importance to things and thus make everything difficult. 

Rather shock others briefly (many are not used to someone being silly and their initial reaction is one of distress or horror – even my readers ;)) than no fun at all in life, right? 

"But Joanna, I can’t do funny at all.” 

Oh, no big deal, you can actually practice it! 

Unfortunately I cannot pin it to concrete examples to teach you, because these are nearly without exception situations that are funny only in context, but the more often you do it, the easier it gets. 

I see this with my children, they have grown up in this atmosphere and at least the girls are well-versed in the art of retelling even obviously bad situations sometimes with such humor and irony that you can’t but cry laughing – and Ben isn’t far behind ;). 

(Important note here: small children do not understand irony, so please never make fun at their expense or make sarcastic comments. Big, huge exception!) 

Maybe all of this does not sound like the big revelation or revolutionary insight, but next time the theatre in your head plays a movie with the title: 

 “OMG, everything is so bad, we will die/go bankrupt/starve/be lonesome and alone/fail/won’t make it/etc….”, you will just say in a loud and serious voice to someone: 

"Yes, true. But at least I went to get my hair done last week and don’t have to die bankrupt AND ugly. Because THAT would be the worst.” 

Love,

Joanna

Btw, my jacket is from Oakwood, my skirt from Zara (unfortunately already 2 years old), and my vest from the flea market.  

You will find the recipe for the fluffiest cloud-like pancakes HERE, at the very bottom. 

I had them yesterday with half a fresh mango, chopped, caramelized almonds and frozen raspberries – so good! 

This post was translated by Eva Ginnell.