How come we are already two weeks into December? I’ve not even bought a single Christmas present yet, though I have a list of things in my mind. Phew, at least something. But where have all those days gone? I feel like I haven’t done anything though I did actually achieve a lot. Or let’s rewrite that last part. I’ve started a lot of things in the past few weeks. But then again I wish I would have more time to finish what I started. Because lately I’m very very excited about…me? This blog? My work? All things related to black.white.vivid.! I feel very motivated and inspired at the moment. I can’t even really explain the shift of my mindset because, you know, it’s dark outside. And rainy. And cold. So normally my brain, heart and soul would go into sleep mode. But not this year. Not this year.
This December I’ve worked on and thought about new adventures that make me look forward to 2017. Like really “I’m 10 years old and it’s Christmas Eve” kind of excited. I’ve never done this before but I’d love to share a few things with you I’m currently working on. This is mostly because I once read that chances are higher to achieve a goal if you share it with somebody. And since you lovely soul are not just somebody but the reason that motivates me to do the things I do….it just feels right to share my plans for now and 2017.
- There will be a new black.white.vivid. logo and branding strategy. I’m super happy I’ve found an amazing designer and I can’t wait to start working with her.
- It’s one of my stretch goals for 2017 and I haven’t even started working on it but I want to publish an international food guide of restaurants to visit in 2017
- Another stretch goal for this year has been to set up and create a concept for an interview series of foodpreneurs. What drives people, what are there afraid of and how does their food (& food related) business play into all that. Super enthusiastic to share inspiring stories with you.
- And I definitely want to invest extra time and belly space to bring you more local food and city guides. And that means that I will travel much more than I did in 2016. It might be a little stressful but I’ve come to love love looovveee the guides over the past few month and I want to bring you more more mooooreee.
- The big word of 2017 will be COLLABORATIONS. I’ve recently done and shared my first guest blog post and absolutely loved it (see my post on NutsandBlueberies.com and Janine’s post on black.white.vivid. here). On my recent trip to London I met up with Sara of Shiso Delicious to work on a feature about Rawligion, a beyond-delicious (raw vegan) eatery.
Other than planing for 2017, I’ve been busy baking apple cinnamon rolls. It took me three attempts to get the vegan yeast dough right (thank you Kitchennostalgia.com for your Vegan Crazy Dough recipe). I’m happy to report that eventually I’ve managed to create some super moist, soft, vegan apple cinnamon rolls. After that exhausting (and calorie heavy) baking week I was then very glad to hop on a plane and fly to London. I didn’t do much Christmas shopping. Only if you consider going to Whole Foods and buying Christmas-flavored cat snacks and sour dough starter as Christmas shopping. I just enjoyed walking around, collection leaves at the still colorful Hyde Park, marvelling at all the Christmas lights and decorations, meeting friends and eating lots of good food. Though nothing tasted as good as my apple cinnamon rolls….just kidding. But they are still really good 🙂
Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Dough (inspired by Kitchen Nostalgia’s [url href=”http://www.kitchennostalgia.com/bread/vegan-crazy-dough.html”]Vegan Crazy Dough)[/url]
- 1 1/4 cup / 275 ml almond milk
- 1 tsp coconut sugar
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 3 1/3 cup / 500 g all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp coconut oil
- Filling
- 1 1/2 cups/ 400 gram apple jam (or any other jam)
- Optional: 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp muscat
- Topping
- a few tbs of nut butter
- In a large bowl mix instant yeast with flour
- Add sugar, baking powder, salt and combine all ingredients
- Slowly pour in milk and stir well
- Now add the coconut oil
- Mix well with mixer or your hands until the dough is soft and form a ball
- Cover the bowl with a wet towel and put it at a warm place for 2-3 hours
- When doubled in size, preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F
- roll out on floured surface, a 9-15 inch/ 23-29 cm rectangle
- Coat with oil, spread the apple jam, sprinkle with cinnamon, muscat and coconut sugar (but only if jam is not very sweet or you need extra sweetness)
- Roll up dough and cut into 12-15 pieces
- Coat baking pan with coconut oil, place apple cinnamon rolls close to each other and let rise for another 30-45 min
- Bake for 25-30 min, not too long as the cinnamon rolls get too dry otherwise
