Salutetosanity

Berry Pudding Cake

2011-12-26T03:27:00.000-08:00

I think the thing that motivates me most when it comes to baking goodies is when I get to make them for other people and share my love of food with them. If it were just up to cooking for myself, I'd probably just be living off of canned soup and sandwiches... actually, scratch that. It'd probably just be tinned soup and bread... sandwiches would take too much effort :P But anyways, it was because I was scheduled to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (night shifts... so, I still had celebratory time with the family, don't worry) that I was lured back into the kitchen to make treats to share at our staff potluck! So, I decided on something semi-healthy... a berry pudding cake. Nom nom nom.

Berry Pudding Cake

Ingredients:
- 4 cups of mixed berries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp orange peel
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar
- Powdered sugar to decorate

Method:
1. In a 9-by-3inch dish, add in the berries in an even layer. Sprinkle evenly with 1/4 cup sugar
2. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and add in the olive oil, orange peel, vanilla and 1 cup of sugar.
3. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt. Continue to mix until well encorporated.
4. Pour batter evenly over the berries and bake in a 350degree oven for 35-40minutes.
5. Cool and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Slice into squares and serve warm or cold.

This was a big hit! I loved it! It was actually really easy and the presentation was simple, yet a real stunner. Definitely a recipe I'll be keeping in my good-books ^^

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2011-12-18T14:49:00.001-08:00

It seems like I'm just always apologizing for stepping away from my food blog for months at a time. I've actually noticed that a lot of the blogs I follow have done the same... I guess it's just that life has taken hold of all of us and we've not had the opportunity to spend as much time in the kitchen as we once did. I'm hoping that soon enough I'll make the kitchen my nesting quarters again, but for now I really have no idea when I'll be posting my baking creations. It's just a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing for me at this point in time. Don't ask me why I decided to wake up this morning and make Red Velvet Cupcakes. Perhaps it was the thought of a future wedding that got me thinking... "I've always wanted Red Velvet Cake for my wedding cake. It's simple, none of that fancy-schmancy custard filling, with multiple layers of cake + fruit preserve + frosting all with a fondant exterior." I just like the plain, the ordinary, the non-showy... that's me. And then I thought to myself how I'd always wanted to bake my own wedding cake or make a cupcake-tree display (as it saves on the messy and awkward hacking up of the cake with a knife). Call me crazy... all my friends have; stating, "You're going to have enough to worry about in terms of the wedding; taking on the task of making the cake... girl, you're insane!" Maybe I am, but I think it'd be cool to say that I made my own wedding cake... either it says "Hey, this girl's really talented" or "Hey, this girl's ridiculously frugal"; honestly, I could live with either remark. Ain't nowt wrong with being frugal.

Anyways... enough with the rambling banter. I'm sure you all just want the recipe. So here it is!

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yields 8 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Red food coloring (I use Wilton's concentrated coloring paste, as you get a nice deep color without needing to use loads of coloring)
1 egg
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp white vinegar

Method:
1. Set the oven to 350degrees. Sift together the flour, salt and cocoa powder.
2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla, beating until smooth. Add in enough red food coloring to make a deep red color.
3. Alternately, add in the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture (In thirds, starting with the milk and ending with the flour). Stir until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for ~25minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Remove from oven, place on cooling rack and then ice with your favorite cream cheese frosting.

My Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup cream cheese
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar

Method:
1. Cream the butter and cream cheese together.
2. 1/2 cup at a time, add in the sugar.
3. Place in piping bag and use to decorate.

It actually felt really good to get back into the kitchen after such a long hiatus. Well, I have actually been "in the kitchen" a lot but y'know what I mean... I haven't ventured to make anything new lately, or gotten around to blogging about my cooking adventures. I'll try and amend that problem though. Bye for now, peeps!

Caramel-filled Crunchie Cupcakes

2011-10-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

So, I realize it's been far too long since I last posted a quality recipe post on my blog. I apologize deeply for this... not only to my followers, but to myself. I don't know what's come over me... I really don't. I'd like to blame everything else that's been going on in my life for interrupting my passion for baking and cooking, but that'd just be a cop-out. Sure, work's been stressful (since I have to make up for all of the shifts I swapped to go on my holidays) but who hasn't had to deal with hectic work schedules every now and then. Yes, maybe I've been having some relationship issues on my mind but again, I'm not the only one. So, today I decided to kick myself in the butt and actually make something.

This recipe's for my friend James. It's his birthday tomorrow and he's all sad about being somewhere where he knows very few people, but mostly he's all down about being a year older. I say, "Heck to that! You're only as old as you feel!" And he has got to be the most fun-loving, energetic and just plain wonderful person I have the pleasure of knowing :D

For this recipe, I decided to use one of my favourite chocolate bars and turn it into a cupcake. I dunno, cupcakes seem to be all the rage nowadays. What with all these gourmet bakeries specializing in just cupcakes, and shows like Cupcake Wars on the Food Network getting so much attention. So, I thought I'd join in with the crowd.

Caramel-filled Crunchie Cupcake

Cupcake Ingredients:

- 2 cups flour

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp each baking soda and salt

- 1/2 cup butter

- 3/4 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

- 3 eggs

- 1 tbsp molasses (or corn syrup if unavailable)

- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

- 1/2 cup buttermilk

- 1/4 cup whole milk

Caramel Drizzle Ingredients:

- 1 cup sugar

- 2 tbsp corn syrup

- 1 cup heavy cream

Caramel Filling:

- 1/2 cup butter

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 tbsp corn syrup

- 1/2 cup whipping cream

Whipped Cream Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cup whipping cream

- 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Garnish/Other Ingredients:

- 6 Crunchie Chocolate Bars (cut 18 big-chunks for topping the cupcakes; and then roughly chop the remaining bars)

Cupcake Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350degrees, and prepare the cupcake tins (grease tins well, or use liners)

2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. Beat butter until fluffy, add in the sugars and when combined, slowly add in one egg at a time. Add in molasses/corn syrup and vanilla.

4. Alternately, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk + milk into the butter mixture. Continue to mix until well combined.

5. Add in the roughly chopped pieces of Crunchie, and pour batter into the prepared tins (~2/3 full) and bake for 15-20minutes.

6. Remove cakes from oven, cool and slice in half.

Caramel Drizzle Method:

1. Place sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan with the corn syrup. Heat pan on medium-high and wait for sugar to melt. Once sugar mixture has turned a dark amber, remove from heat and add in the cream. Allow to cool and use for drizzling the cupcakes when ready.

Caramel Filling Method:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan, add in the sugar and corn syrup. Stir continuously over medium heat for 6-8minutes, or until mixture turns a deep amber.

2. Pour in the cream, and continue to cook for 1-2minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to a spreadable consistency.

Whipped Cream Frosting/filling:

1. In a metal bowl, whip the whipping cream until fluffy and firm. Add in the powdered sugar and mix well. Set aside for cupcake assembly.

Assembly:

1. Take top off of a halved cupcake.

2. Spread on a thin layer of whipped cream frosting, followed by a layer of caramel filling.

3. Place top of cupcake back on.

4. Top cupcake with a heaping tbsp of whipped cream frosting. Drizzle on the caramel sauce, sparingly; and top with a chunky piece of Crunchie.

It actually felt really good going back into the kitchen to make something more than a packet of noodles, tea, a sandwich or some sort of frozen dinner. I missed the feeling of being creative and getting my hands dirty; putting effort and love into making dishes is a lot of fun... but I think for a while there, it was becoming more of a chore to up-keep this blog than it was a joy. Hopefully, I'll get back into the groove... and if ever you're worried about whether or not I'm actually still around, check out my tumblr :P I'll probably be on that.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (more vacation stuffs)

2011-08-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am a Harry Potter fan... but not so much of a fan that I'm enraged that I did not get my Pottermore welcome email yet (I'm just a little bit disappointed). But all that aside, The Wizard World of Harry Potter was ridiculously amazing. When I first heard that we would be visiting Islands of Adventure while in Florida, I knew that TWWoHP was the first place I wanted to visit...
What can I say about it? Words do little to describe the atmosphere. They played HP music as you walked through Hogsmeade, and Hogwarts Castle (which was a ride) was beautifully crafted... so much so that it only felt like we waited 30minutes (and not 1hour and 20minutes) to enjoy the ride. The Hogwarts express was very majestic, and I just wanted to hop on and have it take me away to wizarding school :P

What I found hilarious was how they revamped the old unicorn ride to make it the "Flight of the Hippogriff" and the Dueling Dragons ride was redesigned to be the "Dragon Challenge" between the Chinese Fireball and a Hungarian Horntail... oh Universal Studios, way to use existing rides to save money on having to build new Harry Potter themed ones.

One of the things I knew I had to try while at TWWoHP was the Butterbeer. I've come across so many recipes for it online that I really wanted to try the real thing before I ever attempted to make my own. I bought it at the Three Broomsticks, and chose the frozen one of the cold. It was amazing! Sort of like a slightly fizzy, caramel, ginger ale-y slushy with a creamy foam on top... the description makes it sound awful I know, but it was heavenly (and just typing about it is making me want one right now!)

And of course no trip to TWWoHP is complete without buying some sweets. I have terrible sweet-tooth and that coupled with my love for Harry Potter meant that of course I would have to buy a chocolate frog (even though they were $10!!!). I really bought it for the wizard card that was inside and then when I opened it and found Helga Hufflepuff I was rather disappointed and started eating the solid hunk of frog-shaped chocolate because I really wanted Godric Gryffindor. Somehow my sister convinced my dad to buy her one too... but she got Rowena Ravenclaw :( Anywho... I'll leave you to drool over pictures of sweets :P If I have time I'll probably finish up my vacation-related posts with some pictures of the cruise!!

Wow... it's been far too long.

2011-08-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

I'm awful, I know... things have just been happening and I haven't had the time to bake or cook anything new as of late. It's just been the same old, same old stuff I've been whipping up... I guess that's the trouble with living on your own. The whole "loving to cook for others" drive just isn't there T^T. And no, it's not a pity party so don't feel bad for me :P Good things have been happening!

I recently returned from a 2 week trip to Florida, which included a cruise from Miami to Key West and then to Cozumel, and let me tell you... it was a BLAST!

Florida's weather was decent (and since my family had been there before, we knew what to expect) and by decent, I mean that it was the same as always... hot, humid and with the expected thunder-shower every afternoon. We spent one day park-hopping between the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios... enjoyed the Tower of Terror (as always) and the Rocking Rollercoaster, and a lot of other great shows. Food was pretty much your standard theme-park grub, nothing out of this world except for this Banana pudding I bought from the Main Street Bakery... it was perfect. Not too sweet, not too dry or sticky and it had a nice crunchy crystallized sugar-layer on the top as well as powdered sugar.

Banana Bread-pudding

Chili-dog from Casey's Corner in Disney's Magic Kingdom

We rounded out the day by having dinner at Steak 'n Shake, because they're supposedly well known for their steak-burgers and milk-shakes. The burgers were okay (there's very little that can be done to a beef burger to make it "outstanding")... but their variety of milk-shake flavors was impressive. We tried the cookie dough milk-shake, which was more of a crushed-cookie shake... and didn't actually have real pieces of cookie dough (which disappointed me). But it tasted good, and had a nice consistency (not triple-thick like a McD's shake, but nice a smooth).

Cookie Dough Milk-shake

Mac & Cheese Pizza!? ... only in the US of A :P

I don't know if I (or anyone) could survive living off of the foods that are served in the touristy area of Florida... everything's so grande in size and everything is covered in cheese O_O.

The following day involved a lot of outlet shopping (and a lot of money spending), finished off with a "buffet" of pizza at Cici's. I don't recommend the buffet, as their "salad bar" looked more like a bowl of lettuce with 6 options for garnish and 3 options for dressing... and while their pizza is good, there's really only so much pizza you can eat before you feel gross. However, if you're just order a pizza then Cici's is pretty good.

The following day we visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!! More to come...

White Chocolate and Whopper Blondies

2011-06-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

Mmmm.... my sweet tooth kicked in this afternoon and since I had some white chocolate and some Robin's Egg candies from Easter I decided to use them up to make a tasty blondie treat. I'm sure you could use macadamia nuts too and make a yummy white-chocolate + macadamia nut bar, but since my sis is allergic to tree nuts I opted against it. The blondies were really good; not too sweet and not too cakey. Although I would probably have baked them a little less, so they'd be a bit more moist... but I had gotten distracted from my baking because my sister's needed to be picked up from school. Oh well, I'll probably whip these up again soon.

White Chocolate Whopper Blondies

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 bar of your favorite white chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup Whopper candies (I used Robin's Egg Whoppers), crushed

Method:
1. Cream together the butter and brown sugar
2. Add eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture and continue mixing.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until just combined.
5. Fold in the chopped chocolate and the Whopper candies.
6. Pour mixture into a 9x9 baking pan and bake at 350degrees for 30-35minutes, until just set and still moist.
7. Slice and serve!

Spiced Steak

2011-06-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

For lack of a better title for this recipe I've just decided to call it spiced steak. The fusion of flavors in this dish make it impossible for me to pinpoint what type of cuisine it is; some-what Indian inspired, some-what Mediterranean, and somewhat Szechuan inspired... well, whatever it is... it's sure tasty.

Spiced Steak (for one)

Ingredients:
- 1 piece of outside round steak
- 2 gloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp of your favorite chili paste (I used a hot-pot soup chili paste)
- 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp red cooking wine
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp canola oil

Method:
1. Create marinating sauce by combining the garlic, chili paste, cumin, coriander, soy sauce, cooking wine and vinegar.
2. Rub the steak with salt and pepper and then place in a bowl with the marinade. Coat the steak with the sauce and allow to sit for at least 1 hour; or overnight is possible.
3. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
4. Heat the oil in an oven-proof pan. Once oil has reached appropriate temperature, place steak in the pan and sear on either side for about 30 seconds.
4. Pour in the remaining marinade and place pan in the oven to finish cooking the steak (~10minutes for a nice medium). Just before serving, slice the meat on an angle and against the grain.
5. Serve with rice, salad, potatoes, fries or whatever else you enjoy!

Since I did most of the prep for this the night before, it was really simple to finish off this dish for a nice and easy lunch. I served mine with a simple salad and some oven-baked fries, and the dish was perfect. I might try this recipe with another cut of beef next time; while the outside round was relatively flavorful, the lack of marbling within the meat made it slightly tough to carve (hence the reason I pre-cut the meat before serving)... well, maybe next time when I can afford a prime-cut of beef I'll whip up this recipe once more ^__^

Simple Caramel Spread

2011-05-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

I didn't really have anything to put on my toast this morning, so I thought I'd make a sweet-spread to make my breakfast just that much more amazing. I have an incredible sweet-tooth, and would probably eat straight sugar if it weren't diabetes inducing and teeth-rotting. This recipe is really simple, takes only 3 ingredients and roughly 10-12minutes to make; good for those mornings when you're in a hurry to get out the door.

Simple Caramel Spread

Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp cream cheese
- 1 tbsp butter

Method:
1. Place sugar, in an even layer, in a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Cook over heat until sugar begins to melt. Do not stir, simply swirl the pan in order to ensure all the sugar melts.
3. Once all the sugar is melted, remove from heat and add in the cream cheese. Stir until mixture becomes smooth and no lumps remain, then add in the butter and do the same.
4. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes and then serve.

This tasted just like Werther's Originals candy in a smooth paste-form; and after making this, I couldn't help but lick the spoon and attempt to scrape every last bit of the spread from inside the pan... mmmm, it was sooooo sweet and tasty.

Braised Salmon with Orange Fennel Cream

2011-05-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

After watching Top Chef Canada I was inspired to do some cooking. I know I haven't been consistently blogging on you my precious food-blog but I've had reasons for not doing so... basically, this past month I haven't really had any time to whip up any dishes that I haven't blogged about before. What are the reasons? I dunno... lack of creativity, lack of time, lack of money to pay for good quality ingredients to cook with? Potentially all of the above :P

But anyways, I decided that today would be different. I was going to make something delicious, relatively nutritious and something that would get my passion for cooking all fired up again. So, here is what resulted...

Braised Salmon with Orange Fennel Cream

Ingredients:
- 4 salmon fillets, seasoned with salt and pepper for at least 30mins
- 1 medium onion, sliced thinly
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp chopped onion
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp dried parsley (or 1 tbsp fresh parsley)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 cup milk
- Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a large frying pan and add in the garlic, chopped onion, fennel seeds and parsley. Cook over medium-high heat until fragrant and onions begin to caramelize.
2. Place the salmon fillets in the pan, flesh-side down. Sear this side for about 1 minute, then turn over. Ensure all fillets are evenly spaced in the pan, or cook 2 at a time to avoid over-crowding. Remove the fish from the pan and set aside.
3. Add in the butter, stirring until well incorporated with the pan drippings. Place the sliced onions on the bottom of the pan, then return the salmon back to the pan, laying them on-top of the onion slices.
4. Mix the orange juice and vinegar and pour over the fish, then cover the pan for 3-4 minutes to allow the salmon to braise. Watch the fish closely, and ensure that you do no cook it until too dry.
5. Once cooked, remove salmon from the pan and set aside. Make a roux by adding flour to the pan drippings, and mixing it into a smooth paste. Slowly pour in the milk while continuing to stir the paste and cook the sauce over medium heat until thick (it should coat the back of a wooden spoon). Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

I decided to serve my fish on a bed of garlic-parsley mashed potatoes, with a small dollop of salad greens. The sauce was ridiculously good, and I think it would even have made a nice pasta sauce. Next time I will definitely make this and eat it with some penne and seafood or something along those lines.

Here's a picture of the salmon without all the frou-frou sauce and salad :P

Sorry for the lack of posts...

2011-05-26T08:51:00.001-07:00

As the title says, I'm soooooo sorry for not keeping this blog up to date recently. I've just been really busy with a lot of family issues, relationship stuff and work related stressors. But don't worry, I'm still here and hopefully I'll be back to my good ol' baking/cooking self in the months to come.

I think I just need to take a breather, and then I'll come back refreshed and good as new :)

Yummy Drop Cookies

2011-04-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

I was feeling a little bit down as my football team won't mathematically be able to be No. 1 on the Premier League table, so I decided to whip up a batch of cookies. I had originally intended to just eat the cookie dough raw... but then thought that this was probably just a depression induced thought of stupidity that I'd later regret. So, I completed the baking process by throwing the dough into the oven and voila! I ended up with a lovely batch of cookies that I could share with my colleagues at work... yes, sharing the love is much better than wallowing in the sadness and scraping dough out of a mixing bowl.

Easy Drop Cookies

Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp cream cheese
- Mix-ins of your choice: I used 1/3 cup desiccated coconut, 1/4 cup flax seeds and 1/3 cup rolled oats

Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla and cream cheese.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Throw in the mix-ins, stir until distributed thoroughly and then placed rounded tablespoons of dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Flatten dough mounds slightly with the back of floured fork.
5. Bake at a 350degree oven for 15-20minutes.

These turned out light and airy, not too dense and chewy. Next time I make them I'll probably throw in some chocolate or butterscotch chips or crushed whoppers... mmmmm. Well, now I don't feel so down ^____^

Yogurt Berry Bread

2011-04-07T01:47:00.001-07:00

Whipped up this delightfully fruity bread for sharing with my co-workers on a night shift. Seriously, night shifts will be the end of me... don't get me wrong, I love them. But for some reason I always end up working with people who seriously love to order take-aways to gnosh on through the 12 hour shift. I tried to be all healthy by bringing this yogurt berry loaf, but then we all ended up pitching in for pizza, someone brought chips, another person brought brownies and someone else brought pop... o_O But anyways, here's the recipe for my somewhat "healthy" contribution to the food fair.

Yogurt Berry Bread

Yields 1 loaf

Ingredients:

- 2 cups flour

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 egg

- 1 1/4 cup sugar

- 100g of your favorite yogurt

- 1/3 cup margarine

- 1/4 cup milk

- 1/2 cup berries

Method:

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

2. In a separate bowl, cream the sugar and margarine until fluffy. Add in the egg, mixing until well combined; then, add in the yogurt.

3. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. Now alternate with 1/2 of the milk.

4. Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, alternate again with the milk and finish off with the remaining dry ingredients. Add in the berries and continue mixing thoroughly.

5. Pour into a prepared rectangular loaf pan and bake at 350degrees for 45-60minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Daring Bakers' Challenge: Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake

2011-03-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

I had to make this challenge early, because guess what? I'm going on another little trip. Yup, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, as one of my friends asked me if I wanted to go with her to Las Vegas. After my trip to London, I realized that these little getaways were just what I needed to stay refreshed and not feel completely over-worked... so I said yes, and now I'm packing for the flight that leaves on the 27th. Vegas for 5 days!! WOHOO!! But now, on to the recipe.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:

- 4 cups flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 package (2 ¼ tsp) active dried yeast
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature

For the filling:

- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup coarsely chopped chocolate

For the meringue:

- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ½ cup sugar

Directions:

Prepare the dough:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.

2. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and butter is just melted.

3. With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

4. Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

5. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 mins.

Prepare your filling:

1. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately.

Make the meringue:
1. Do this once the dough has doubled. In a clean mixing bowl beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

1. Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

3. Roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

4. Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inchintervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

5. Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

6. Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

7. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

8. Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

9. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.

10. Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

This recipe is definitely a winner! It was ooey-gooey, chocolatey and moist. I have a serious addiction to bread, and since this recipe allowed for me to practice baking with yeast and improve my bread making skills I was very happy to whip this up. All in all, this Daring Bakers' Challenge was pretty easy to complete, and a perfect light snack for tea.

Daring Bakers: February 2011

2011-02-26T15:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry I'm posting late, but I didn't get around to making my Daring Bakers recipe until I returned from my trip to London. I spent 10 days in that amazing city and, although I've just come home, I want to go back already. I can finally check some things off my "to-do" list, such as... go to London, watch an Arsenal game in a London pub, and watch an Arsenal game at the Emirates. But all that aside, let's move on to this month's Daring Bakers challenge.

Blog-checking lines: The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Vanilla Panna Cotta

Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon (one packet) (15 ml) (7 gm) (¼ oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
3 cups (720 ml) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
1/3 cup (80 ml) honey
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) granulated sugar
pinch of salt

Directions:

Pour the milk into a bowl or pot and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the milk (make sure the bowl/pot is cold by placing the bowl/pot in the refrigerator for a few minutes before you start making the Panna Cotta). Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.
Pour the milk into the saucepan/pot and place over medium heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes. (I whisk it a few times at this stage).
Next, add the cream, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn't boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes.
Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glass or ramekin.
Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Add garnishes and serve.

Coffee Gelee

Ingredients:
2 cups (480 ml) good quality brewed coffee
1/4 cup (60 ml) hot water + 2 tablespoons (30 ml) cold water
1/2 cup (120 ml) (115 gm) (4 oz) granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (3½ gm) (1/8 oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract

Directions:

Place granulated sugar and 1/4 c. hot water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Sprinkle gelatin over 2 Tablespoons cold water and let it soften 2 minutes or so.
Stir the coffee, sugar, hot water, and vanilla into a small metal bowl, add gelatin mixture and stir well until gelatin has dissolved. If pouring over Panna Cotta, be sure that this mixture is no longer hot, it will melt Panna Cotta if it is, let it come to room temperature.

Nestle Florentine Cookies

Ingredients:
2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter
2 cups (480 ml) (160 gm) (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) (95 gm) (3⅓ oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup
1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (250 gm) (9 oz) dark or milk chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C) (gas mark 5). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.
Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl).
Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).
Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.

Both the panna cotta with the coffee gelee and the florentine cookies were delicious. The cookies were wonderfully buttery and crisp, and the panna cotta was lusciously rich and creamy. I really enjoyed these comforting dessert, especially after watching the Arsenal v. Birmingham Carling Cup match as it took some of the sting away *sniff*, if you stay up-to-date with association football you'll know what I'm talking about, otherwise... sorry for bugging ya. Well, until next month's challenge ^_^ (or sooner if I find I have some free time to do some baking).

Daring Bakers Challenge: Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entremet

2011-01-27T06:33:00.000-08:00

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

My version is a vanilla sponge, filled with berries and a banana custard filling.

Joconde Sponge

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients:
- ¾ cup almond flour/meal
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp confectioners' sugar
- ¼ cup cake flour
- 3 large eggs
- 3 large egg whites

- 2½ tsp white granulated sugar or superfine sugar
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
Fold in melted butter.
Reserve batter to be used later.

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients
- 14 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups + 1½ tbsp confectioners' sugar
- 7 large egg whites
- 1¾ cup cake flour

- Food coloring gel, paste or liquid

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
Fold in sifted flour.
Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:

Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approxim ately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet mak es spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock ba g and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.
Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.
Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.
Bake at 475ºF /250ºC until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully.
Cool. Do not leave too lon g, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.
Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The powdered sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)

Preparing the MOLD for entremets:

Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.
A biscuit cutter/ cookie cutter- using cling wrap pulled tightly as the base and the cling covering the outside of the mold, placed on a parchment lined very flat baking sheet. Line the inside with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping.
Cut PVC pipe from your local hardware store. Very cheap! These can be cut into any height you wish to make a mold. 2 to 3 inches is good. My store will cut them for me, ask an employee at your store. You can get several for matching individual desserts. Cling wrap and parchment line, as outlined above.
Glass Trifle bowl. You will not have a free standing dessert, but you will have a nice pattern to see your joconde for this layered dessert.

Preparing the Jaconde for Molding:

Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.
Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.
Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. (Use a very sharp paring knife and ruler.)
Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.
The mold is done, and ready to fill.

Entremet- Filling Options: Mousses, pastry creams, Bavarian creams, cheesecakes, puddings, curds, jams, cookie bases, more cake (bake off the remaining sponge and cut to layer inside), nuts, Dacquoise, fresh fruit, chocolates, gelee.

Burns Night Supper

2011-01-25T18:21:00.000-08:00

It hadn't even occurred to me that it was Burns Night, until I returned home from the supermarket already with a haggis in hand. You may be wondering why on earth I decided to purchase Haggis of all things during my spontaneous trip to the store. Well... I can't even explain it. I originally went to the store to buy bananas, as I had run out just this morning, and while I was perusing the aisles, I spotted it... the lying round and plump, like a little baby crying to be swaddled, in the meat department cooler... haggis! For reasons which are beyond my comprehension, I decided to spend $12.30 of my hard earned cash on this lump of meat which I had never tasted in my life (I think being an Anglophile makes you do crazy things). Anyways, I purchased the Haggis and when I got home, realized that I wasn't quite sure how to cook it because the package did not come with instructions. Do I boil it? Bake it? Steam it? hmmm... I think I'll Google it!

What showed up on Google surprised me... for as I searched among pages of recipes I discovered that today was actually Burns Night (a national day celebrating the birth of Scottish poet, Robert Burns). Delighted with the knowledge that I had found a new holiday to celebrate, I set to work in the kitchen preparing what was to be a delicious supper.

I'm not going to post any recipes, because honestly... all I did was cover the haggis in tin-foil and bung it in the oven for 1 hour, alongside some onions, sweet potatoes and cloves of garlic (which I would later use in my potatoes). And I don't really need to post a recipe for colcannon, because hey... anyone can boil potatoes, mash them with garlic + butter + boiled cabbage + salt.

I literally just threw this supper together last minute, and it was sooooo gooood. The haggis, melted in my mouth and was so tender and moist. It reminded me of meatloaf, but without the beefy taste. I don't regret spending my money on the haggis... and if you've never tried it before, you're seriously missing out! Go get some... and have a happy Burns Night!

I think I'll leave you with the first verse of the Burn's Address to The Haggis:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race.
Aboon them a' ye tak your place.
Painch, tripe or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

I actually memorized this verse a while back, after being introduced to it on QI... I know, such a panel-show nerd. But, it shows you that panel-shows can be quite educational.

Green Bean Coconut Kueh

2011-01-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I steamed up some Malay goodies, so I thought this weekend I'd play around and experiment with what ingredients I had in my pantry to make a unique version of my favorite Malay sweet...

Green Bean Coconut Kueh

Ingredients:
Coconut Sticky Rice Layer
- 3/4 cup glutinous rice, soaked in water overnight
- 1/2 cup coconut milk + 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- pinch of salt

Green Bean Coconut Layer
- 3/4 cup glutinous rice flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut milk + 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup dried green beans, soaked overnight in water, then boiled until tender
- 1/3 cup dried shredded coconut

Method:
1. Combine the soaked rice, coconut milk mixture, sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix well, then pour into your steaming tray (I used a 6inch round tin). Steam over high heat for 45minutes, until rice is cooked.
2. In another bowl, combine the rice flour, sugar, coconut milk mixture, beans and shredded coconut.
3. Pour the flour mixture into the steaming tray, covering the cooked rice in an even layer. Continue steaming the kueh for another 45minutre, until flour layer is firm and cooked through.
4. Remove tray from steamer, allow to cool. Cut into wedges and serve, at room temperature or cold.

I must say, this was a pretty tasty treat! I guess I've made enough kuehs that I know the basics enough to throw together something decent. I hope one day I'll be able to make a cake/brownie/cookie recipe by heart... but baking takes a little bit more calculative work than steaming. Well... after some early morning kitchen antics, I'm off to watch the Arsenal v. Wigan game that I taped from yesterday (and maybe do some tumblr blogging). See ya!

Cinnamon Apple Upside-down Cake

2011-01-13T16:47:00.000-08:00

I've taken it upon myself to do a bit more stress-baking. Apparently the powers that be have decided to seriously screw with me this week. Initially, I was really looking forward to working this week because I had swapped shifts around with a friend so that I could work mostly nights (I usually love nights). But, I guess because I was trying to "make my life easier" karma decided to kick it up a notch. After I got home from my shift, which ended at 7am I emptied my scrub pockets to find, to my dismay, the narcotic keys!! When I saw them, my heart sank... "Crap, crap, nooooooo!! Why!!" these words ran like a continuous news broadcast ticker through my mind. AAAARGH!! I had to drive all the way back to work to bring the keys back to the ward!! Nooo... why!!!

Well, after that adventure, I finally made it home and literally collapsed in my bed, ready to sleep until 5pm... but then I remembered that my colleagues and I had planned a pot-luck for our next shift, and I scrambled out of bed to whip up something tasty. Boy, am I glad that tonight's the last shift of my set... I seriously need to take a break and get reset my internal clock. But anyways, here's what I'm bringing to work tonight.

Cinnamon Apple Upside-down Cake

Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp each, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced
- lemon juice of one lemon
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 325degrees.
2. In a medium sauce-pan, heat 1/2 cup of butter until melted and frothy. Add in 2/3 cup brown sugar and cook over medium-heat until mixture is dark amber and smooth in texture. Add in 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Pour mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch round, deep dish baking pan.
3. Arrange the sliced apples in a fancy pattern on top of the caramel mixture in the pan, ensuring that the apple slices are tightly tiled over the caramel. Sprinkle lemon juice over top of the apples.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, remaining 1 cup of brown sugar, salt, baking powder and the remaining 1/2 tsp each of the spices.
5. In another bowl, cream together the butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well-combined.
7. Spread the batter over top of the apples in an even layer.
8. Bake for 45-50minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Remove from oven, invert on serving dish and serve warm or at room temperature.

You could smell the heavenly scent of apple and cinnamon wafting through the house... and it nearly made me forget about the fiasco that had happened with the narcotic keys. Needless to say, I'm definitely not carrying the keys tonight... no siree.

Soft, Sour Cream Cookies

2011-01-12T14:25:00.001-08:00

AAHHHH, okay... so this set of shifts has been uber stressful for me. I'm glad I switched one of my day-shifts with a colleague so that this set I'll be working 1 day and 3 nights, but these nights seem to drag on sooooo loooong. In addition, the weather man decided to be correct for a change and snow actually fell while I was at work... a freaking 5-6inches of it! I had my fingers crossed and was praying that I'd be able to get home, because there was no way I was going to stay at the hospital for longer than my 12hour shift (especially since I'm heading back there tonight for night #2). Luckily, the snow-fall turned to slush-fall and the roads cleared up for me; but, I wasn't taking any chances so I decided to just drive to my parents place because they live closer to the hospital... I thought that it would probably be the best thing to do considering I'd be heading back there tonight anyways.

So, after a restful nap in my snuggly warm bed, I awoke with a great desire to do some baking. I'm pretty sure the desire to bake arose due to --> the intensely snowy weather, work-related stress, and waking up to the news that my favorite football team had been crushed by Ipswich... but anyways, here's the recipe!

Sour Cream Cookies
Yields 15 medium sized cookies

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- heaping 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:
1. Cream together the butter and sugars until light an fluffy.
2. Add the egg, vanilla and sour cream to the butter mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well incorporated.
5. Add in the chocolate and butterscotch chips.
6. Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter onto a baking sheet, and place in the oven at 350degrees. Bake for 10-12minutes.
7. Place cookies on cooling rack and serve.

OMG! These cookies were so cakey and moist! I'm thinking I have to bring some to work to share with my peeps. I had thought of putting sour cream in my cookies for a long time but just never got around to it because it's not a staple ingredient in my house, but being at my parent's house I found a tub of the stuff and thought to myself, "Today's the day!" Mmmmm... I think I'm just going to huddle by the fireplace with my cookies and a cup of tea until I have to go back to work.

Addendum: How good are these cookies?? Well, they almost made me forget about how sad I was for Arsenal's defeat, but then I went on Tumblr and the pain was relived every time I refreshed my dash. But, life must move on...

Daring Baker's Challenge: December 2010 - Stollen Wreath

2010-12-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while since my last post... a month to be exact, but don't worry, I'm still alive and kicking! I've just gotten a bit distracted by another blogging side-project. Tumblr's got a hold of me and while I haven't been posting a lot of my baking adventures, if you check out my Tumblr blog (www.silverrock.tumblr.com) you can take a peak into my other obsessions.

But, even though I haven't been blogging recipes recently, I will always do my best to keep up to date with the Daring Baker Challenges. So, here's my Stollen Wreath for December's challenge.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Stollen Wreath

Ingredients:
- ¼ cup lukewarm water
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 1 cup milk
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter
- 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon extract or orange extract
- ¾ cup mixed peel
- 1 cup firmly packed raisins (I substituted 1/2 a cup with cranberries)
- 3 tbsp rum
- 12 red glacé cherries (chopped) for color & taste (optional)
- 1 cup flaked almonds (I didn't use these, as my sister is allergic)
- Melted unsalted butter for coating
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Method:
1. In a small bowl, soak the raisins in the rum (or in the orange juice from the zested orange) and set aside.
2. Pour ¼ cup warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast and let stand 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast completely.
3. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup milk and 10 tbsp butter over medium - low heat until butter is melted. Let stand until lukewarm, about 5 minutes.
4. Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add lemon and vanilla extracts.
5. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests.
6. Then stir in the yeast/water mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. This should take about 2 minutes. It should be a soft, but not sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. 7. Add in mixed peel, soaked fruit and almonds and mix with hands to incorporate. Here is where you can add the cherries, if using. Be delicate or your dough will turn red
8. Sprinkle flour on counter, transfer dough to the counter, and begin kneading to distribute the fruit evenly, add additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for ~8 minutes. You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough – a few raisins will start to fall off the dough onto the counter because at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is very sticky and the raisins will be held into the dough but when the dough is done it is tacky which isn't enough to bind the outside raisins onto the dough ball.
9. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
10. Put it in the fridge overnight. The dough becomes very firm in the fridge but it does rise slowly… the raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want. Shaping The Dough
11. Let the dough rest for 2 hours after taking out of the fridge in order to warm slightly. 12. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
13. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
14. Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches and ¼ inch thick.
15. Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder.
16. Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle. You can form it around a bowl to keep the shape. 17. Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting 2/3 of the way through the dough.
18. Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
19. Proof for ~2 hours at room temperature, or until about 1½ times its original size.
20. Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F/88°C in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. 21. Transfer to a cooling rack; brush the top with melted butter while hot
22. Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sifter.
23. Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over-top.
24. The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar.
25. Let cool at least an hour before serving. Coat the stollen in butter and icing sugar 3 times, since the many coatings help keep the stollen fresh.
26. When completely cool, store in a plastic bag. Or leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly, German style.

This recipe was challenging for me, as I'm not that gifted when it comes to baking with yeast. As my regular readers may know, yeast and I do not get along very well... we're fair-weather friends, one might say. But thanks to my patience and sticking to the recipe to a "t", I was able to produce a Stollen Wreath which I was most proud of sharing with my family and friends for a Christmas potluck. The wreath was wonderfully moist and sweet, thanks to the many layers of butter and icing sugar, and it was the perfect addition to our holiday banquet. I will definitely be making this recipe again, come next winter-time.

Daring Bakers: November 2010 - Crostata

2010-11-30T15:16:00.001-08:00

I've been feeling rather guilty having not updated my blog for practically a month. I swear to you I've been in the kitchen quite a few times, and just this past week I whipped up a tasty batch of cookies. I just didn't get around to posting any of my escapades, but thankfully I baked up something for this month's DB challenge. I'm so glad that I joined this group... it's keeping me in-check, and making it so I have to post at least once a month.

I don't know where my time's been running off to. I have been working, but that part of my weekly routine seems to have settled itself out, and I'm getting use to my work schedule... maybe it's because I've been really engrossed in catching up with Arsenal FC's 2010/2011 season (The Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Carling Cup). These guys play brilliant football, and I can't help but be enamored with their dedication to the sport and great team play. I'm sure they'll take the top of the table by the season's end, and with the number of injuries the team's had to endure they're doing amazingly well. The team's last EPL game, they topped Wigan Athletica and like a winter fairlytale, lovely white snow began falling on the pitch.

But anyways, here's my long-awaited blog post for November's DB Challenge: Crostata. The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Pasta Frolla (crust)

Ingredients:

1/2 c. minus 1 tbsp superfine sugar or a scant 3/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 and 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1 stick [8 tbsp] cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
grated zest of half a lemon
1 large egg + egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

Method:

Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
Roll dough, and form into a baking pan. Add filling, and bake in 350degree oven for 45minutes.

Berry Filling

Ingredients:

1/8 cup butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour + additional 2 tbsp flour for roux
1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
3/4 cup mixed field berries
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl
Enough milk to make a thick batter (1/4 to 1/2 cup)

Method:

Melt butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan, add in the sugar and 2 tbsp flour to form roux.
Add in the berries, and heat over medium until berries become macerated.
Add 1/4 cup milk to the mix and continue stirring mixture.
Add in the flour + baking powder mix, stirring until well combined.
Slowly add in the eggs, mixing well to ensure that the eggs do not begin to cook; and if batter remains thick, add in additional milk to form a batter with pudding-like consistency.
Pour into the pasta frolla crust and bake at 350degrees until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Yay!! The crostata was tasty, and with the winter-ish weather doing it's business outside (seriously, I can't believe it began snowing already) my family enjoyed the warm pie with a big dollop of whipped cream. Mmmmm... I cannot wait until Christmas rolls around, it seems so close yet so far!

October's Daring Baker Challenge: Doughnuts

2010-10-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Eeeee! I know I haven't posted anything in what seems like forever, and yes you can blame my work on that one. I simply haven't found the time to get back into the kitchen! When doing shift-work, it seems like your "days on" are so busy you can't get anything done when you get home... and then on your "days off" you're simply too exhausted to even contemplate doing anything (even the things that you love). But, hopefully I'll get into a good routine soon.

In regards to work, all I have to say is that I'm very glad I have the co-workers I do. Although the work is extremely exhausting and frustrating at times (seeing as how none of us get decent breaks and it's always go-go-go) my team at work is just amazingly supportive and they always offer a hand (even when they're swamped too). Without them, I'd seriously have a complete melt-down... and came so close to it, let me tell you. But for now, I'm good... enjoying my restful days off and finally stepping into the kitchen to do some Daring Baker's work.

Blog-checking lines: The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Boy do I love doughnuts... and I could hardly wait to get cracking on this challenge, so without further adieu. Here's the recipe:

Yeast Doughnuts

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 milk
- 1/3 cup butter
- 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 2 eggs, large [I substituted one egg for 1/3 cup pumpkin puree]
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp nutmeg, grated [I also added 1 tsp ground cinnamon]
- 4 2/3 cups all purpose flour + extra for dusting surface
- Enough canola oil to create THREE (3) inches of oil within your frying vessel

Method:

Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

[NOTE: I halved my portion of dough so that I could fry one half, and save the other half of dough to shape and bake. For my baked donuts, I placed them on a well greased baking tray, brushed the uncooked donuts with melted butter and baked at 350degrees for 8-10minutes. Once baked, I then brushed them with a little more butter and dipped them into a mixture of granulated sugar + cinnamon. For my filled donuts, I simply poked a hole in the middle and filled with raspberry preserve]

Yay, for DB challenges! These doughnuts were simply divine! Both the baked and the fried versions were super tasty and they actually weren't that difficult to make. There are times when I look at the DB challenges and think "OMG! I don't have any time to complete this challenge", but then when I look back on it again, it's actually a good thing that these challenges are monthly because then I'm almost guaranteed to enter at least a blog-post a month! So thanks DB's for keeping me on track!

Irish Soda Bread Take 2

2010-10-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Having already made Irish Soda Bread (and having loved it the last time), I thought I'd try a different recipe to revive the ol' classic. I made the soda bread to go a long with a stew that my dad had prepared for me and brought over to my place... I don't know what could have given him the impression that I don't do home cooking when living on my own (doesn't he read my blog?? or is that too "new agey" for his generation?) but the stew was a welcomed surprise.

Anywho, on with the bread! I love Irish Soda Bread because it's delicious, easy, only uses a few ingredients and you can not screw it up. So, here's the recipe...

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp butter, cold and cubed
- 1 cup buttermilk (or 2% + 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar, left to sit for ~10mins)
- 2 tbsp mixed grains (optional)

Method:
1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl.
2. Using a pastry cutter, or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture. Continue breaking up the butter until you get pea-sized chunks.
3. Working with the dough as little as possible, add the buttermilk into the dry ingredients.
4. Shape the dough into a rough ball and place on a greased baking tray. Flatten the dough slightly, dust the top with the mixed grains and score the top of the dough with a knife.
5. Bake at 350degrees for 35-40minutes, or until golden brown.

This was such an amazing bread. Really quick, and really simple to conjure up. I think that from start to finish, the entire bread only took about 45minutes to create (including baking time!). I almost didn't even need to eat the bread with the stew, but the smell of my dad's stew was just too alluring to pass up. So, with an amazing comfort-food meal of soda bread and stew... my evening was complete.

Welsh Rarebit

2010-10-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

Again, thanks to my new found obsession with the show Come Dine With Me I've gotten a hankering for some not-so-Canadian dishes. Not that I'll be cooking anything like Laverbread, skirly, Howtowdie wi Dappit Eggs and Tatties or any black pudding (at least not anytime soon), but I did find myself craving some Welsh Rarebit. The ingredients were on-hand in my kitchen and the recipe didn't seem too labor intensive or complicated for a quick afternoon snack, so... off I went.

Welsh Rarebit

Ingredients:

- 6 slices of French bread

- 1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste

- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

- 1 tsp mustard powder

- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

- 1/4 cup butter

- 3 tbsp flour

- 1 clove of garlic minced

- 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I only had marble)

- 1/3 cup dark ale (I used Guinness)

- 1/2 cup milk

- chopped spring onion (optional)

Method:

1. Melt butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan and fry garlic until golden brown and fragrant.
2. Add in the flour and mix over medium heat to form a roux.

3. Slowly pour in the dark ale, and continue to mix until well combined. Then, slowly add in the milk and cook over medium until mixture begins to thicken.

4. Add in nutmeg, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and salt to taste. Continue mixing, and add in the cheese. Stir sauce until cheese is well melted and mixture is nice and thick.

5. Place slices of French bread on a baking tray; spread cheese-ale sauce over top of slices and place tray in the oven. Set oven to broil and cook until cheese topping bubbles and browns, and French bread begins to brown.

6. Optional: Serve rarebit topped with a garnish of chopped spring onions.

The Guinness flavor was really strong in the rarebit, but boy was it tasty. Man! The Brits really know how to eat their toast! I mean, toast and beans, toast and eggs, toast and cheese... all sound uber-tasty to me but I've never seen it served as a snack food in Canada. I will definitely be making this recipe again, I just gotta go out and buy more ale... I finished off the last can of Guinness, because hey... what else could I do since my recipe only called for 1/3 cup of the malty, creamy nectar?! (Did I mention that Guinness is my favorite draught... probably why it was the ale that ended up in my rarebit)... uh, oh... gotta sober up before work :P jkjk

Bailey's Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

2010-10-05T01:09:00.000-07:00

I was sitting at my computer watching another lovely episode of Come Dine With Me, and having watched each of the competitors puddings be either chocolate or cheesecake related I suddenly felt the urge to have something creamy, chocolatey and cream-cheesey. So, just before the winner of the Come Dine With Me episode was revealed, I paused it and ran off to the kitchen to whip up a tasty treat for myself (seeing as how no body else was around to share it with me :P)

Bailey's Cheesecake Swirl Brownie

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup (8 tbsp) butter

- 1 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup flour

- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

- 1 tbsp instant coffee

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp vanilla essence

- 2 tsp milk

- Cream Cheese Swirls: 3 tbsp cream cheese + 1 tbsp sugar + 1 tsp flour + 2 tsp Bailey's (all creamed together)

Method:

1. Melt butter and add in both sugars, mixing until well combined. Mix in the eggs one at a time and stir in vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, coffee granules and salt.

3. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry, mix well and then add in the splash of milk.

4. Place in prepared 8x8 pan . Take tsp sized dollops of cream cheese swirl mixture and drop randomly on the surface of the chocolate brownie batter. With a knife, swirl the mixture around.

Look at the lovely swirls of rich, cream cheese! Mmmm...

5. Bake at 350degrees for 35-45minutes.

6. When done, remove from oven and leave to cool on wire rack before slicing.

This brownie turned out better than I had anticipated, and I'm sure if I were a competitor on Come Dine With Me (and had served the dessert with some home made vanilla bean ice cream) I could have been a real contender for top. The topping was nicely crisp and the cream cheese swirls were rich with the ever lovely taste of Bailey's Irish Cream. The inside of the brownie was gooey, soft, moist and simply decadent and it was hardly noticeable that I had used no baking chocolate whatsoever. This recipe is definitely a keeper, that's for sure!

Red Wine and Horseradish Beef Roast

2010-09-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

I was browsing the grocery store doing my weekly shopping and came across a great deal on a beef roast! It was only $6.88 for a 2lbs of deliciously meaty roast, and since I've never attempted to cook a beef roast dinner before I thought I'd give it a go.

Red Wine Horseradish Roast

- 2lbs beef roast
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1 tsp cumin
- salt and cracked pepper, to taste
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 1 gala apple, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp horseradish
- 1/4 cup red cooking wine, plus more for the gravy
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp barbecue sauce
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- Your favorite roasting vegetables

Method:
1. Toss together the sage, oregano, cumin, salt and cracked pepper. Rub oil over the roast and coat the roast with the herb-spice blend.
2. In a small sized bowl, combine the garlic, apple, onion, horseradish, wine, vinegar, tomato paste and barbecue sauce.
3. Place the coated roast in an oven-proof dish and pour the horseradish marinade over-top, being sure to coat the entire roast liberally. Marinate in the fridge for 3hours or a maximum of 24hours.
4. When ready to cook, heat some cooking oil in a pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, take the roast out of the bowl and place in pan. Sear the roast for ~1-2minutes on each side and then remove the roast from the pan, placing back in the oven-proof dish.
5. De-glaze the pan with a splash of red wine, remove from heat and set aside for making the gravy once the roast is completed
6. Place the dish in a 375degree oven, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
7. When there are 30-40minutes left of cooking time, place your roasting vegetables (i.e. carrots, onions, Brussels sprouts etc.) in the dish to cook.
8. Once roast is cooked to your preference, remove from the oven and place on cutting board to rest.
9. Place the pan which was set aside for the gravy back on the stove-top and add 2-3tbsp of flour to make a roux.
10. To the pan, slowly add in the roast drippings. Continue to whisk over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. If desired, add in some beef stock to enhance the flavor (adding more flour to thicken, as necessary).
11. Slice roast and serve with the vegetables, gravy and whatever sides you like (I served mine with wild rice).

I really enjoyed cooking this roast, it was a great "first" for me. The flavors were amazing, and the meat was wonderfully tender. I normally enjoy my meat rare, and when I first sliced the roast it was perfectly done. However, I forgot that while you let the meat rest it continues to cook, so when I finally plated the meat it ended up being more towards medium. The beef gravy was delicious, and way better than any store-bought gravy I've ever tried. I think I will definitely be making this meal again.

Post Script:
I was completely weirded-out when I went to chop my garlic clove. I grabbed what looked like a regular old clove, smacked it with the side of my clever and then proceeded to peel off the normal looking skin. And what greeted me was this strangely opaque, squidgy, sticky, yellow clove of garlic. It smelled okay, but I was too creeped out to use it so I threw it out. Strangely enough, the rest of the cloves in the bunch were perfectly normal, but this one clove was just an odd-ball. Has anyone seen one of these before?

Daring Baker's August '10: Sugar Cookies

2010-09-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

I love sugar cookies! So I was ecstatic to see that this month's DB challenge would be featuring the simply delicious and tasty treat. I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to decorate the cookies, but I realized that in this challenge it was mandatory that we had to use decorate the cookies in a "September theme" (whatever September means to you). So, I chose to do this challenge in two parts. The first day, I made a bunch of little square cookies (each 1 square inch in size), which gave me until day two to decide what my "September theme" would be.

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

Basic Sugar Cookies
(Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies)

- ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose
- 1 cup Caster Sugar
- 1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Method:
• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavorings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm (0.2 inch)
• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 30mins - 1 hour.
• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

So... again, with the theme... hmm... that was a tricky one to figure out. After making the cookies, my mind started running trying to figure out how to theme my cookies for September. Then, after a long hard think, I remembered that September 13th, 2010 was the 25th Anniversary of the release of Super Mario Bros. So, I used the cute little squares as "bits" and created an 8-bit Mario by using various colors of icing sugar to decorate the cookies with the outline-fill/flood

Royal Icing
- 2½ - 3 cups Confectioner’s Sugar, unsifted
- 2 Large Egg Whites
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

• Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.
• Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.
• Beat on low until combined and smooth.
• Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.

Note: 3 cups of confectioner's sugar is good for piping the outline, and by adding a little bit of water to the mixture the icing is perfect for flooding the outline)

Look at all the cute little colored squares! They were a bit time consuming to decorate, but in the end I think they were worth every bit of effort. If I were to do this again, I'd probably pipe the icing a bit closer to the borders of the cookies so that there would be less cookie visible when the 8-bit character is put together. Other than that, the cookies and icing were delicious and my sisters really enjoyed picking apart Mario, piece by piece ^_^

Easy Creamy Pasta

2010-09-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

With such an elaborate dinner last night, I thought that tonight I'd play it a little low key and make an easy creamy pasta dish. It was full of vegetables, and didn't take a lot of time to prepare; this made it even more tasty because I was able to relax and savor the slowness of the day. So, without boring you with a long winded intro (and because I just wanna chill out and watch a movie tonight :P) here's the recipe.

Easy Creamy Pasta
(Yields two servings of pasta)

- 3 cups cooked spaghetti (freshly cooked, and still warm)
- 3 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cup broccoli rabe
- 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp dried fennel seeds
- 1 tsp crushed red peppers
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 chicken breast fillet
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
- A splash of red wine (or you can use grape juice)
- 1 heaping tbsp cream cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Season the chicken breast with rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper. Let sit to marinade for at least 10 minutes. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
2. To the skillet, add the remaining 1 tbsp oil until hot and then add the garlic, fennel seeds, cayenne, crushed peppers. Fry over medium heat until fragrant ~1 minute.
3. Add in the onions, broccoli rabe, vinegar and red wine. Cover the pan for 2-3 minutes and allow vegetables to steam
4. Cut the chicken breast into slices, and add to skillet. Next, add the cooked spaghetti, followed by the tomatoes and the cream cheese. Toss the pasta mixture with tongs, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

See... nice and simple, it literally took no more than 8minutes to cook. Once the veggies are prepped and you have the pasta already cooked, this dish is a breeze to whip up. I loved the richness that the cream cheese adds to this dish; it adds a great subtle cheese flavor without overpowering the sweetness of the wine and the tangy-ness of the vinegar. All in all, a great comfort food dish... and the colors make it look so elegant! Mama would be proud ^_^

Indian Fusion for Dinner!!

2010-09-09T02:03:00.000-07:00

I love Indian food... I don't know if it's the spices that always intrigue my tastebuds, or the fiery heat that comes from eating raw/semi-cooked chilies, but I simply love me some spicy cuisine and Indian is spicy at its best. However, one cannot forget that Malay cooks also know a thing or two about heat! So, I decided that for dinner last night I would whip up an awesome meal of Pea Pilau, Spicy Cashew Prawns and Vegetables, Fish Vindaloo and good ol' Naan bread. (See below for my silly attempt at plating the dish in a fancy way... I kind of failed at it o_O)

But anyways, I must post the recipes for my amazing dishes. I kind of improvised with a lot of the amounts and the cooking times, so if you're trying to cook this dish it's really all about using your own cooking knowledge and never forgetting to taste! taste! taste!!

Spicy Cashew Shrimp

- 20 tiger prawns, defrosted or fresh

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tbsp oil

- 2 tbsp butter, unsalted

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1/2 small onion, minced

- 1/2 small onion, chopped

- 1/2 medium zucchini, sliced thinly and tossed with a little salt

- 1/3 cup crushed cashews, unsalted

- 1/2 tsp cumin

- 1/4 tsp coriander

- 1/4 tsp paprika

- 1/4 tsp mustard powder

- 1 tbsp of your favorite hot bean paste

- 2 green chilies, de-veined, seeded and chopped

Method:

1. Toss the tiger prawns with salt to season, leave to rest for at least 10 minutes.

2. Heat oil and butter in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Once butter is melted, add in the minced garlic, minced onions, cumin, coriander, paprika, mustard powder and bean paste. Fry for about 2minutes, making sure not to burn the garlic.

3. Add prawns to the pan and continue frying until prawns begin to turn pink.

4. Add the lightly salted zucchini slices on top of the prawns and then cover the frying pan with a lid. Allow mixture to simmer for 4-5minutes.

5. Remove lid from pan, toss in the crushed cashew nuts and chilies. Give the dish a final toss in the pan before plating.

Naan Bread

This naan bread is made using the exact same recipe I always use. You can find it here. Or also check out my past blog featuring and Indian inspired menu HERE.

Awww... just look at the little dough balls. They look so fluffy and gooey... but I'd best cook them before my penchant for eating tasty looking things results in me contracting yucky tummy bug :P

And now on to the spiciness... the fun stuff, the fish Vindaloo!!

Fish Vindaloo

- 1 1/2 lb white fish fillets (I used cod), cut into large chunks
- Salt
- 6 dried red chilies, crushed
- 10 garlic cloves

- 2 inch ginger root

- 1 inch galangal root
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 1/2 lb onions, chopped
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin, ground

- 1/2 tsp coriander, ground

- 1/2 tsp cardamom, ground

- 1/4 tsp paprika

- 1/4 tsp tumeric

- 1/4 tsp mustard, powder

- Salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 6 green chilies, seeded, de-veined and chopped

Method:

1. Sprinkle the fish with salt and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Rinse then pat dry. Grind: red chilies, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and onions to a fine paste with a scant amount of cider vinegar.

2. Heat the ghee and fry the ground paste for a few minutes. Add the fish, season with salt, and fry over a high-heat for 5 minutes.

3. Lower the heat and simmer until the fish is tender. Add the remaining vinegar, sugar, powdered spices and green chilies and simmer until the sauce thickens

And to round the meal out, with a nice earthy carb... Pea Pilau!

Pea Pilau

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1 tbsp oil

- 1 medium onion, sliced thinly

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1/2 tsp cumin

- 1/2 tsp cardamom

- 1/2 tsp coriander

- 1/4 tsp paprika

- 1/4 tsp mustard powder

- 1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground

- 1/2 tsp tumeric

- 1/3 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened

- 2 cups uncooked white rice (you can use basmati)

- 1 cup frozen peas (no need to defrost)

- Salt and pepper to taste

- 2 1/4 cups water + 1/4 cup coconut milk

Method:

1. Place oil and butter in non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Once butter melts, add in the garlic and onion. Cook mixture until it is browned and caramalized, then add the 7 spices and the coconut stir mixture continuously over heat for ~ 2 minutes, until it is aromatic.

2. Add in the uncooked rice and mix thoroughly, allowing the spices to coat the rice. Continue cooking over medium heat for 2 more minutes. Add the peas, and then add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Pour the spiced pea-rice-coconut mixture into a rice cooker, cover with the water + coconut milk mixture. Give mixture a gentle stir, set rice cooker on "cook" and leave the cooker to finish the hard work :P

4. Fluff rice with a fork and serve.

Well... that was my the meal I treated my family to for the day! The prepping and cooking all together took me no more than 2 hours! I was really impressed with my ability to manage time, prep the food and get the meal ready to serve by dinner time! (Honestly, I can't believe that the chefs in Hell's Kitchen can't get food out in under an hour :P)

August's Daring Baker's Baked Alaska

2010-08-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to try my hand at making a real baked Alaska. I say real, because I've made a baked Alaska once before... a long time ago in my High School Home Economics class... it didn't turn out so well :P But with this month's Daring Baker challenge asking us bakers to try out hand at this finicky dessert I new I had to have my "A-game". My variation for this DB recipe was to make a banana-rum baked Alaska. The cake base would consist of a brown-butter banana bread pound cake, and the ice cream would be a cinnamon, maple, rum flavor.

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Individual Baked Alaska
Vanilla Ice Cream
- 1 cup (250ml) whole milk- A pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup (165g) sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise OR 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (500ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
- 5 large egg yolks- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- My Variation: substitute 2tsp vanilla with 2tsp rum extract, add 1/2tsp ground cinnamon and 2tsp maple syrup Method:
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean (or extract if using) with a paring knife and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If making cinnamon-maple ice cream, add in the powder and syrup now!)
2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2 litre) bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour ¼ cup warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.
4. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 teaspoon [5ml] if you are using a vanilla bean; 3 teaspoons [15ml] if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make it without a machine.Brown Butter Pound Cake
- 19 tbsp (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
-- or if making banana brown-butter cake, use 8 tbsp butter and 1/2 cup mashed banana
- 2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sifted)
- 1 tsp baking powder- 1/2 tsp (3g) salt
- 1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extractMethod:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter (if making banana-brown butter cake, add mashed banana now), light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.Meringue (For the Baked Alaska)
- 8 large egg whites
- ½ teaspoon (3g) cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 cup (220g) sugar

Method:
1. Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar gradually in a slow stream until stiff peaks form.

Assembly Instructions – Baked Alaska
1. Line four 4” (10cm) diameter tea cups with plastic wrap, so that plastic wrap covers all the sides and hangs over the edge. Fill to the top with ice cream. (For my banana-rum baked Alaska, I sliced pieces of banana and layered it on top of the ice cream after I pressed it into the bowls/cups)
2. Level the top of the brown butter pound cake with a serrated knife or with a cake leveler. Cut out four 4” (10cm) diameter circles from the cake. Discard the scraps or use for another purpose.
3. Make the meringue (see above.)
4. Unwrap the ice cream “cups” and invert on top of a cake round. Trim any extra cake if necessary.
5. Pipe the meringue over the ice cream and cake, or smooth it over with a spatula, so that none of the ice cream or cake is exposed. Freeze for one hour or up to a day.

I attempted to use my hand-held long-ended lighter to brown the edges of the meringue but I suppose the flame wasn't hot enough for the browning effect to be properly seen. Note to self: invest in a good quality hand-held torch (justify the need for one by making creme brulee and baked Alaskas at least 2 times a week :P). So, with the failed attempt at browning with my lighter, I decided to just put the baked Alaska in the oven as the recipe had described. In the end, there was a little bit of a mess on my pan. I must have missed a spot during the meringue piping process, leaving a part of the ice cream exposed. This resulted in a little bit of a melty, leakage of ice cream through the meringue layer... but, thankfully, I pulled the dessert out of the oven before any real damage was done. And my sisters, my parents and I decided to just enjoy the dessert communally, straight off the pan. I cannot describe the taste, only that it was deliciously sweet, cakey and fluffy (thanks to the meringue). I will definitely be trying this recipe again.

Mmm... the aftermath of the melty, fluffy, sweet dessert! What a nice treat on a warm summer's day.

Mac&Cheese... on a stick!

2010-08-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Okay... before you think I've gone completely insane with the comfort food on a stick thing, I'll have you know that I'm simply making this recipe in order to enter a "Food on a Stick Contest". Actually, I've found that competitions are a great way to light a fire under my butt and spark my creativity when it comes to baking or cooking. Without a little challenge, I'd probably just stick with making the same-old, same-old foods that I've tried over and over and over again. But I digress... you guys probably just want the recipe :P

If you like the recipe, you can check it out at Instructables.com And if you really like it, please vote for my recipe. Voting begins August 22.

Macaroni & Cheese On a Stick

Mac&Cheese Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1 ½ tbsp flour

- 1 ¼ cup warm milk

- Pinch of nutmeg and cayenne pepper

- ½ cup grated cheese (I used marble, but you could use any good quality hard cheese gruyere, mozzarella, cheddar)

- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. In a medium sized pot, bring some salted water to a boil and cook macaroni as per instructions on the bag. Once al dente, drain the pasta and set aside.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter.
3. Add flour to butter, whisking vigorously until mixture if of uniform consistency. Remove pot from heat, and slowly add the warm milk (whisking continuously to avoid lumps).
4. Return butter + flour + milk mixture to stove and bring to a simmer. Add cayenne and nutmeg, and continue to stir.

5. Once sauce thickens, remove pan from heat and add in the cheese. Continue to stir sauce until cheese dissolves.
6. In a rectangular casserole dish, combine the sauce and the macaroni. Mix thoroughly until all pasta is coated with cheese sauce. Cover dish, and place macaroni in the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight).
7. Remove refrigerated/day-old macaroni and cheese from fridge.
8. Take handfuls of mac&cheese and form them into balls ~1.5-2inches in diameter.
9. Place balls on a baking tray and return to fridge while you prepare the frying batter.

Batter Ingredients:

- 1 ¼ cup flour

- ¼ cup corn starch

- ½ tsp baking powder

- ½ tsp baking soda

- ¼ tsp salt

- 1 cup cold water (adjust amount of water to produce a batter that is not too runny)

- ½ cup bread crumbs

- ¼ cup grated cheese

- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese

- Pinch of Cajun seasoning and cracked black pepper

Method:
1. Sift together the flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Stir in the bread crumbs, cheeses, seasonings and pepper.
3. Have cold water ready to add to dry ingredients when your frying oil, mac&cheese balls and cooking station is ready to begin the frying process.

Frying the Balls:
1. Complete preparation of batter mixture by adding the cold water to the dry ingredients. Stir until no lumps remain, and batter is nice and thick (add more flour if batter is too runny).
2. In deep wok, heat 2L of canola oil (or 2-3inches of oil) over medium until it reaches 375degrees (or batter-test the oil temperature: drop a tsp of batter in the oil and if ready, the batter should bubble up to the surface immediately).
3. Remove Mac&Cheese balls from fridge. Place one ball into the batter mixture gently. Use a spoon to coat the sides and top of the ball fully. Use that same spoon to gently drop the battered ball into the hot frying oil. Cook for 3-4minutes (or until batter is nicely browned), remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper-towel lined plate to cool. 4. Repeat step 3 for all the Mac&Cheese balls. (Note: again, be not alarmed if the balls fall apart slightly. Remain calm! Slowly scoop up the Mac&Cheese bits with your large spoon, and if the pieces are all coated in batter then the ball is remain whole once deep fried ^_^)

Mmm... nothing like Mac& Cheese with Ketchup :)

Black Cherry and Coconut Tart

2010-08-13T09:22:00.001-07:00

I had just returned from a 2-day trip to Seattle, and on my answering machine was a message offering me a job as an RN on the unit that I'm currently casual on. "Finally!" I thought to myself, "I'll have a steady schedule, and be able to make plans with friends without having to say 'well, I'm casual and always on-call... so, I may or may not be able to come... we'll have to wait and see'."

Words cannot express my excitement!! And so, to celebrate a wonderfully sunny summer day, and me having a steady job (at least for the next 7 months), I decided to do some baking.

I'd always wanted to bake a fruity, tart-like, butter-cookie based bar... and with my black cherry tree producing an over-abundant amount of tiny, tasty cherries I thought that making a Black Cherry and Coconut Tart (with a shortbread cookie base) would be perfect. My friend works at a bake-shop (in Cloverdale) and they make the best almond-cherry tarts... so, this was my attempt to gain par with their tart... although I'm pretty sure that that would be an impossible feat.

Black Cherry and Coconut Tart

Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup cherries, fresh and pitted
- 1/2 tbsp corn starch
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut

Method:
1. Crust: By hand, combine the first 3 ingredients until a soft, crumbly dough forms. Press this crusty dough into the bottom of a lined baking pan (8x8 square, or 8-inch round). Bake at 350degrees for 25minutes (watch that the edges do not burn).
2. Filling: Combine the cherries and corn starch, mix until all cornstarch is no longer powdery white and visible. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the cherries and mix until well combined. Beat in the egg, beating until uniform batter forms. Add in the coconut, continue to mix until well combined.
3. Pour the filling mixture over the warm crust, bake the tart at 350degrees for another 30minutes. Allow to cool, remove from pan, slice and serve.

This tart had the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. I loved the beautiful purple color that the freshly pitted cherries gave to the filling component of the recipe. Served with ice cream, this was the perfect treat for my summer-time celebration ^_^

Cassava Cake (Bibingka)

2010-08-05T12:32:00.001-07:00

Well, it's still a swelteringly hot summer day... and you'd think that that would mean that I'd stay away from anything hot and potentially sweat-inducing. However, my addiction to baking has rendered it nearly impossible for me to stay out of the kitchen and away from the heat-producing box known as my oven.
Upon opening the fridge this morning, I discovered that I had about a cup of evaporated milk left over from another dish I'd made (I can't quite recall what though, the heat is seriously melting my brain o_O) and like any normal person I thought that it'd probably be a good idea to use up the milk in another recipe, before the heat rendered it curdled, sour and just plain disgusting.

I put my thinking cap on, and thought long and hard about what I wanted to make... and then it hit me! Cassava cake! Or Bibingka. My dad makes a wicked cassava cake, and I thought I'd try my hand at making one that was as good as (if not better than) his. So, onward with the recipe...

Cassava Cake (Bibingka)
Yields 1 cake ~8-10 servings

Ingredients:
- 1 pack (454g) frozen, shredded cassava root; thawed
- 250ml evaporated milk
- 250ml coconut milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- topping: shredded coconut + brown sugar mixed together (optional)

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients together
2. Pour into two 8-inch round glass pan (or two 8x8inch square glass pans) that have been well greased.
3. Place dishes in a water bath and bake at 350degrees for 1hour.
4. Remove bibingka from water bath and sprinkle on the topping if desired. Continue to bake for another 25-35minutes (without water bath).
5. Set oven to broil and cook for 5minutes (or until the top of the cake is nicely browned).
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool before slicing.

The heat from the oven was unbearable... but the smell that the cake gave off was simply delightful. I couldn't stay away :P And the cake itself, although I'll admit, not as good as my dad's recipe, was pretty darned good. My dad's bibingka is usually more chewy and glutinous than the recipe I made. This bibingka was more like a firm, creamy, egg and cassava pudding... not too sweet, but just sweet enough and with just enough coconut milk to not overpower the cassava taste. I'll have to ask my dad for his recipe... because there's one more pack of frozen cassava in the freezer and I definitely want to learn the secret to his chewy cassava cake recipe.

One thing that I'd probably do differently, is that I'd make the cake a bit thicker. Upon pouring the batter into the glass dish, I realized that I had much more batter than would fit into the glass dish; however, the leftover batter was not enough to make a completely whole, second cake. Perhaps if I had a larger glass dish... maybe a 9x13inch rectangle glass dish would have been just the right size. Well... there's always next time, because this recipe is so simply and easy to make! But, I'll probably wait until the heat dies down before I get back into that blazing hot kitchen.

July '10 Daring Baker's Challenge: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

2010-07-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

The weather this summer has been tolerable but not very pleasant. Yes, the summer sun is out in full force and wrecking havoc upon those of us who dread the sunlight. I'm not a cold-blooded monster per se, just more of a fall/winter girl. Yes, I rather enjoy the cool, damp Autumn showers as well as the blisteringly frigid breeze that December brings. But that's not to say that summer doesn't have it's positive notes; one thing is for certain, during the summer-time nobody can give you the "glarey-eyes" if they catch you eating ice cream for dinner :P. And if they do give you the "glarey-eye" you know it's only because they're jealous that you're enjoying a frosty treat whilst they are left to suffer in the sweltering heat, without the reprieve of their own tasty sweet. Okay, maybe some of you health-nuts and parents out there don't condone ice cream as a meal... but when you're desperate and sweaty you must admit that nothing beats ice cream.

Anyways, all this banter is simply leading into this month's Daring Baker's Challenge which was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

So... on with the recipe... and the pretty pictures

Swiss Rolls

Ingredients:
- 6 medium sized eggs
- 1 cup caster sugar + extra for rolling
- 6 tbsp, a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tbsp/a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
- 2 tbsp of boiling water
- a oil for brushing the pans

Filling:
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of ~ ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 5 tbsp caster sugar

Method:
1. Pre heat oven to 200C or 400F.

2. Brush baking pans ( 11 x 9 in) with a oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake. 3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together eggs and sugar until very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.

4. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
5. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
6. Place a pan in the center of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the center is springy to the touch.
7. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
8. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
9. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
10. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
11. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
12. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
13. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
14. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).

15. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cup whipping cream
- 1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup granulated sugar

Method:
1. Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.
2. Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

The Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 tbsp natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 1 ½ cup water
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water
2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

The Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients:
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 tbsp natural unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:
1. Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor .
2. In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
3. Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
4. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instruction, after the mixture has cooled completely.
5. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely

Assembly
1. Cut swiss rolls into 20 equal slices (~2 cms each)
2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.
3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).
4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour)
5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm . ( at least an hour)
6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .
7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

I decided against making the hot fudge part and the chocolate ice cream part because I had gone a little overboard with the chocolate-ness of my swiss rolls. The over-zealousness of my frosting and my decision to make the frosting chocolate flavored versus vanilla flavoured was probably my downfall. The frosting kinda oozed out, and since it was a similar color to the cake it didn't really create that nice color-differentiation that would have added a lovely finesse to the Swiss Roll. Oh, well... there's always next time.

Also, I didn't have enough whipping cream to make a separate batch of chocolate ice cream, so I simply used up all of my vanilla ice cream to fill the bombe. I'm sure if I used the hot fudge and chocolate ice cream, the bombe would have looked ultra-fantastic... but my sisters and my parents were just so happy that I had made a cold treat for them to enjoy that had both the deliciousness of cake and the refreshing creaminess of ice cream. I really enjoyed making this recipe, and will definitely do it again sometime... probably sticking closer to the original recipe than I did this time.

Butterless Cookies

2010-07-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Living on my own, and trying to manage my budget for only the necessities (i.e. cds, comics, trading cards and other collectibles :P), I've noticed that butter has not become one of my regular staples in the house. I don't use butter all that often, opting to spread my toast with banana spread, kaya, pb or jam, and the only butter I have in my condo are those individual packets that I've kept from my late-night Tim Horton's runs ^_^
These mini-packs of butter are clearly not sufficient to make baked goods with; so, now when I feel compelled to bake a batch of cookies I've learned that I can be pretty savvy with my ingredient substitution. This morning, I think I may have found the perfect recipe for soft and tender butterless cookies!

Butterless Cookies (Yields 30 cookies)

Ingredients:
- 1 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup dry oats
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp each: cinnamon and allspice
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp caramel sundae syrup
- 2 heaping tbsp fat-free miracle whip
- 2 tsp water
- 1/2 cup of whatever mix-ins you like (I went with rum soaked raisins, cranberries and almonds)

Method:
1. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, sugar, syrups, water and miracle whip.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
4. Add in the desired mix-ins.
5. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake at 350degrees for 8-10minutes. Cool on wire rack and serve.

These cookies were simply delicious and so moist that you wouldn't have believed there was no butter added. I don't know why I decided to add the miracle whip... I guess I just looked in my fridge and thought "Well, this is the most butter-esque thing I have in my fridge and I do like the taste of miracle whip... so why not?" And I'm glad I did, because it added so much life to these little cookies. Mmmmmm... now I shall go and share the goodness with the world (or my world anyways... aka my family).

Vietnamese Salad Rolls

2010-07-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

With the summer heat making it almost unbearable to use the oven and stove without causing one to go into a gross sweat, I decided upon making a dish that would be quick, fun, easy and anti-diaphoretic. I'd always wanted to try making Vietnamese Salad rolls, as I often buy them for a quick lunch at my favorite Asian supermarket T&T. They usually come 3 to a pack and are accompanied by a delicious satay-peanut sauce. However, since I'm trying to save money (what with the crazy HST kicking in and making everything 12% more expensive then necessary) I thought I should try to save money by making my own salad rolls. Also... it's more fun making your own food :P
Vietnamese Salad Rolls (Yields 14 rolls)

Ingredients:
- 14 pieces of Rice Paper Sheets
- 21 pieces of shrimp, cooked
- 115g rice noodles
- 2 cloves garlic, minced very finely
- 2 tbsp ginger, grated finely
- 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 tsp soy sauce, or more to taste (add slowly - a little goes a long way)
- Pinch of sugar, to taste- 1 tsp white vinegar or rice wine vinegar- 1/3 cup carrots, shredded
- 1/3 cup snow peas, diced
- 1 cup lettuce, shredded
- Hoisin sauce, Sweet Chili sauce, or Spicy Peanut Sauce (see recipe below) to serve
Method:
1. Prepare the shrimp by cooking them and cutting them in half lengthwise; set aside.
2. Prepare Rice Noodle Filling: Place rice noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 2 minutes, strain, rinse with cold water, strain again to remove any access water and set aside in a large mixing bowl. To the noodles, add the grated ginger, garlic, onion, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, carrots and peas. Toss well with tongs to combine the ingredients and set aside.

Note: Adjust the flavor of the filling to your liking by adding soy sauce (to increase saltiness), sugar (to alter sweetness) or vinegar (to adjust sourness). Other vegetables may also be used in lieu of or in addition to the carrots and peas. Examples: shredded cucumber, green onions, sliced red pepper, sweet corn niblets and any other summer vegetable you enjoy!
3. Prepare Your Work Station: Arrange your work station so it is easy to wrap your salad rolls.
- Soak a clean cloth in warm water and ring until all excess water is removed, place on your work station.
- To the right of your cloth-covered wrapping area have the filling (noodles, shrimp, lettuce) ready to go.
- To the left of your wrapping area have a shallow pan of lukewarm water ready for soaking the dry rice paper sheets.
- Have a dish ready to place your completed salad rolls.

My poorly drawn illustration of what my wrapping-station looked like.

Rice noodle filling atop a sheet of rice paper

4. Ready to Wrap: Quickly dip 1 sheet of dry rice paper in the pan of water, wetting one side and then flipping it over to wet the other side. Place the rice roll on the damp cloth on your wrapping area, fold cloth to cover the rice wrap and let it remain covered for ~30seconds. Unfold cloth, place 3 half-pieces of shrimp onto the lower 1/3rd of the rice sheet, cover with some lettuce and place some noodle filling on top. Fold the lower portion of the rice sheet to cover the filling, fold in the left and right sides of the rice sheet and then roll the rice sheet to make your salad roll. Repeat process for the remaining salad rolls.

5. Can be stored in the fridge, but is best served the say of preparation. Serve chilled, with Hoisin Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce or Spicy Peanut Sauce.

Spicy Peanut Sauce (Yields 1/3 cup sauce)

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 1/2 tsp sambal oelek
- 1/2 tsp sriracha (adjust to spice preference)
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
- 1 to 2 tbsp warm water

Method:
1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.

I more or less guesstimated how to make these salad rolls, but a friend of mine liked this dish so I'm trying to standardize my ingredients list and the method. I think I've recreated the recipe to be almost exactly like the rolls I made yesterday, so if there are any issues with it please let me know and I'll try and touch it up a bit.

I will most definitely be making these salad rolls again sometime soon, especially if the weather continues to be unbearable warm. Well, since the weather is so nice, I should probably go out and enjoy it... so, bye bye computer :P

Japadog

2010-06-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

The last time I visited a Japadog was when I travelled to downtown Vancouver with my sisters during the Olympics. During this visit, we bought our dogs from the stand on Burrard & Smithe and thoroughly enjoyed them... they were delicious and unique and to be honest, my sisters and I simply adore anything Japanese (cuisine, manga, anime, music etc.). Here are some pictures of our culinary experience at the Japadog stand...

Their cute menu board

Their array of condiments... including: sweet chili sauce, mustard, wasabi mayo, Japanese mayo, honey mustard, dijon mustard, sriracha, ketchup and bacon bits

I decided on the Oroshi Dog (bratwurst topped with grated radish, green onions and soy sauce... the sweet chili-sauce and mayo were my additions), while my sister ordered the Okinomi dog (Kurubuta weiner topped with Japanese mayo, okinomiyaki sauce, bonito flakes and fried cabbage). My other sister remained on the less adventurous side and ordered a regular Kobe beef hot dog.

Flash-forward to yesterday, and it marks the day my sisters and I travelled downtown for another Vancouver outing. We were hankering for something to eat that was quick and affordable and as we walked down Robson Street we noticed that the Japadog sit-down restaurant was now open. So, without hesitation we headed towards the wonderful aroma of cooked meat and ordered us some tasty Japadog creations.

Signage outside of the restaurant

Look at all those hot dog buns!! Crazy!

Their Terimayo dog (teriyaki sauce, seaweed and Japanese mayo) $4.75

The Tonkatsu dog (breaded pork patty topped with red cabbage and Japanese mayo) $4.95

Once I saw this on the menu board, I knew I'd have to try it. Their Yakiniku Rice dog (pork dog with grilled teriyaki beef, lettuce and radish sprouts all in a rice-patty "bun") a bit pricey at $6.25, but totally worth it.

My sister's and I have always found that the quality at the Japadog stalls is always top-notch, and although on the expensive side (especially for a hot dog) we're always willing to pay for it. The only thing I'd have to say about the Yakiniku Rice dog is that you must eat this sitting down. Chomping at this baby is kind of a messy ordeal; and if you're like me and enjoy topping your hot-dogs off with "the works" in terms of condiments, then the drippy-soppy-messiness will be tripled. The rice "bun" of the Yakiniku dog is fairly sturdy and soaks up the meat juices and condiments well, but once it reaches its saturation point it will slowly begin to break apart. I went through my fair share of napkins while eating this bad-boy; yet, while it may have been a challenge to eat, it was really good! I highly recommend that if you're in the Downtown Vancouver area, you try Japadog at least once.

June Daring Bakers Challenge - Pavlova

2010-06-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know I've been slacking off severely in my postings. All this hectic business with trying to find a job :P AAHHH! Can't believe my last post was for May's DB Challenge. Well, at least being part of the Daring Bakers has forced me to keep up the blogging.

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

Chocolate Pavlovas

Recipe 1: Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):

- 3 large egg whites
- ½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s sugar
- 1/3 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder

Method:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200º F (95º C) degrees. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.
Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)
Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)
Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon. (Class made rounds, hearts, diamonds and an attempt at a clover was made!)
Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Recipe 2: Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base):

- 1 ½ cups (355 mls) heavy cream grated zest of 1 average sized lemon
- 9 ounces (255 grams) 72% chocolate (I used milk chocolate), chopped
- 1 2/3 cups (390 mls) mascarpone
- pinch of nutmeg
- 2 tbsp (30 mls) Grand Marnier

Method:

Put ½ cup of heavy cream and lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add chocolate and whisk until melted & smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
Place the mascarpone, remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks (DO NOT OVERBEAT OR MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill pastry bag with mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.

Recipe 3: Mascarpone Cream (for drizzling):

- 1 recipe crème anglaise
- ½ cup (120 mls) mascarpone
- 2 tbsp (30 mls) Sambucca (optional)
- ½ cup (120 mls) heavy cream

Method:

Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the Sambucca and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

Recipe 4: Crème Anglaise (a component of the Mascarpone Cream above):

- 1 cup (235 mls) whole milk
- 1 cup (235 mls) heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 6 large egg yolks
- 6 tbsp (75 grams) sugar

Method:

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.
Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.
Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

Assembly:
Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with the mascarpone cream over the top. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

Yes, I know... I didn't put the mascarpone drizzle on top of the pavlovas. But to tell you the truth, my drizzle-sauce stuff was a bit on the liquid side and I didn't want to drown my cute little creations. So, instead I served the cream on the side so that whoever wanted some additional creamy-sweetness could just spoon some on top as liberally as they wanted. The puffy little pavlovas were a hit with my sisters and my parents. And they were almost too cute to eat!

Piece Montée: May's Daring Baker Challenge

2010-05-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

In just 6 days I will be taking my final comprehensive RN exam, and from there... who knows. With all the craziness of trying to cram 4years of nursing school knowledge into the past month would probably have driven me insane, were it not for my beloved baking. Yes, as I've said in previous posts, baking really helps me to de-stress. At first I was not really planning on partaking in this month's challenge, what with having to deal with all the stress of studying for the exam as well as job-searching (who knew it would be so difficult to find a job as a nurse!?!? not what I was told 4years ago).

But after thinking it over, I decided to do the baking thing because, I'm pretty sure there's a limit to the amount of time one can spend studying in a 24hour period before all of the information begins to drip out of one's brain and onto the floor (at which point it is essentially useless b/c there's no getting it back in there!). So, off I went into the kitchen... ready to whip up a storm.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

Piece Montée

Pastry Cream:

Ingredients:
For Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tbs. cornstarch
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla

Method:
1. Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine remaining milk with sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil. Remove from heat.

2. Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into egg mixture, whisking constantly so that eggs do not begin to cook.

3. Return remaining milk to boil. Pour in hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

4. Continue whisking until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

5. Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

Variations:
- Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring 1/4cup (~50ml) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (~80g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

- Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ tsp instant espresso powder in 1 ½ tspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux Yields ~28pieces

Ingredients:
- 3/4cup water
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- For egg wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Preparing batter:Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

3. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

4. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

5. Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

6. Piping: Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

7. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

8. Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

9. Baking: Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

10. Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool. Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

11. Filling: When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly while you make your glaze.

12. Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:

Ingredients:
- 8 ounces/200g finely chopped chocolate (semi-sweet is best)

Method: Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.
Hard Caramel Glaze:

Ingredients:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Method: Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of Piece Montée:
Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may still be hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. After building your piece montée, decorate the tower with drizzled glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. Have fun and enjoy!

Well, after all that baking... I should probably get back to studying. Wish me luck :)

Panda-ish Bread

2010-05-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

I've actually had this recipe saved on my computer for the longest time and just hadn't gotten around to making it because I was far to inexperienced with bread to even attempt to look at the recipe :P However, now that I've purchased a bread machine I'm a little less fearful of yeast baked goods and so I decided to give this panda bread a shot.

I used the recipe from Do What I Like and followed it to a "T", except for the major oopsie I did with the arrangement of the dough pieces. I don't quite know what I was thinking, but for some reason I thought I would put a slab of green dough in between the eyes (why a panda would have a random blob of green between its eyes, I don't quite know). Maybe I was tired, and it looked right at the time... I should probably be getting more sleep T_T. I actually realized the mistake after I had placed the final section of white dough around the green slab and the eyes, but by that time it was too late to fix my mistake... the dough was quite sticky and I couldn't fix the panda's face without mangling his eyes. So, I left it and thought "how bad could it turn out?"

My irreversible mistake!!! I think I thought I did it right b/c I was distracted by how cute the bread looked... kinda like a leaf on the panda's face.

Having to live with my mistake and finish the bread... at least it still looks kinda cute.

After I sliced it... I realized how unpanda-like it looked :(

Well, the answer is pretty badly... the panda no longer looked like a panda; even as I tried to pass it off as the daikon panda from Nerima (see picture below) by sister still thought it just looked like random swirls in a loaf of bread.

Dang-it!!?! Oh well, at least I attempted something so ambitious... maybe I'll try this recipe again in the future, and be more careful about how I arrange the dough.

Sushi Cupcakes for Dad and Mom (and me)

2010-05-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well, as always, may is quite the busy month. It's my dad's birthday, then my birthday, mother's day, my best friends birthday and in addition to all the celebrations I have to hunker-down and study like crazy for my final RN exams! Man, trying to condense 4 years of nursing knowledge into one month is quite the stressful experience.

With all the celebrations going on (and my need for some major study/stress relief) I decided that the best thing to do would be to bake and decorate a couple cupcakes! I thought long and hard about what type of cupcakes I wanted to make... and for some reason I was craving just an old fashioned vanilla cupcake. I also knew I wanted to use fondant to decorate the cupcakes... but the tricky part was figuring out what theme I wanted the cupcakes to take on!

After scouring google for a solid half-hour I decided that since my dad and mom both love sushi (and we always go out, just the three of us, to all-you-can-eat late-night sushi once a month) that sushi-themed cupcakes were most definitely the way to go! So, I got to work baking the cupcakes, allowing them to cool, rolling out the fondant (I used Wilton's pre-made white fondant and simply dyed it into the colors I wanted) and slapping the cupcakes together. Ooooh, I simply love playing with the fondant! It's like making sculptures with play-doh... brings back such fond childhood memories ^_^

Vanilla Cupcake
Yields 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup milk

Method:
1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream sugar and butter until soft and fluffy. Add in eggs one and a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Combine the milk and vanilla in a small bowl.
4. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Stir until just moistened.
5. Add in the milk mixture and continue stirring, only until just combined (do not over-mix).
6. Add in the final half of the flour mixture; again, stir until just combined.
7. Pour into a prepared muffin tray and bake at 350degrees for 24-28minutes, until golden.
8. Allow to cool completely and then decorate.

Ahi tuna nigiri and an Akagai (red clam) nigiri

Your classic sushi roll

Ebi (shrimp) nigiri

Ikura (salmon roe) roll and a Toro (fatty tuna) nigiri

Well, when I unveiled these cuties to my mom and dad (and my sisters) they were so surprised at the intricate details... namely the tiny blobs of ginger and wasabi. However, since these cupcakes had so much effort put in to their decoration, my mom didn't want to touch them for fear of "breaking" them, my dad was busy taking pictures. and my sisters didn't want to eat them because they were "too cute". Alas, why did I make them so adorable that everyone was scared to take a bite?? Oh, well... I wasn't scared, so I dug in... and they were just as delicious as they were well-decorated!

Another Free E-magazine from Betty Crocker

2010-05-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

As the title of this post states, I have another link to an online Betty Crocker magazine! They sent it to me because my birthday's coming up and this e-mag is all about Birthday Cakes.

Enjoy: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gm/birthdayparties/

April's Daring Baker Challenge: Steamed Pudding

2010-04-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

When I read that this month's DB challenge would be the classic British pudding, I was more than excited! I'd already tried my hand at making this type of dessert once before (when I made my steamed Christmas pudding) and now I was going to have another go! Mmmm... I remember the last time I made a steamed pudding it was very tasty indeed, so this time I was ready to have at it. For my topping I used an Apple-cinnamon and Caramel sauce compote. I then strained the compote from the cooking liquid, reduced the liquid and used this as the deliciously sweet drizzlings for my final product. It turned out fantabulous!

This month's challenge allowed for many variations of the classic British pudding, from savory & crusty, to sweet & crusty, to sweet & cakey... I went for the latter.

Steamed Suet Pudding (Sponge type)

(100 grams/4 ounces) All-purpose flour
(1/4 teaspoon) salt
(1.5 teaspoons) Baking powder
(100 grams/4 ounces) breadcrumbs
(75 grams/3 ounces) Caster sugar
(75 grams/ 3 ounces) Shredded suet or suet substitute (i.e., Vegetable Suet, Crisco, Lard)
(1) large egg
(6 to 8 tablespoons) Cold milk

1. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl.
2. Add breadcrumbs, sugar and suet.
3. Mix to a soft batter with beaten egg and milk
4. Turn into a buttered 1 litre/ 2pint pudding basin and cover securely with buttered greaseproof paper or aluminum foil.
5. Steam steadily for 2.5 to 3 hours
6. Turn out onto warm plate, Serve with sweet sauce to taste such as custard, caramel or a sweetened fruit sauce.

Variants:

Apple-Caramel Pudding (my variant) - in a saucepan combine 3 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp each cloves and nutmeg, 3 tbsp brown sugar and 3 tbsp heavy cream. Heat over medium until the sugar melts, then add 3 medium apples (peeled and chopped). Cook until apples have sweated and the sauce begins to thicken, 5-10minutes (sauce may still be fairly liquid). Strain the compote from the liquid, mix 1/4 cup of compote with pudding batter and use the remaining compote to cover the bottom of the steaming bowl. Set caramel liquid aside to cool and drizzle over top of cake when steamed and sliced.
Spotted Dick - Add 75g/ 3oz currants and 25g/1 oz of mixed chopped peel with the sugar.
Syrup or Treacle or Marmalade Pudding – put 2 Tablespoons of golden syrup, treacle or marmalade at the bottom of the bowl before adding pudding mix.
My Fair Lady Pudding – Add finely grated rind of 1 medium orange or lemon with the sugar.
Ginger Pudding – replace the sugar with 100g/4oz of treacle, and add 1/2 tsp ground ginger.

With the help of my mom's good ol' fashioned and trusty Corel bowl and my pop's giant, heavy-bottomed steaming pot I was able to steam with ease. Who knew my parent's kitchen would be the perfect place to steam some British pudding?

At first glance, my sister was wary of trying the pudding-cake concoction. But once I told her it was a "British" pudding she practically jumped at the chance to try a piece. See... my sister and I are pretty much obsessed with all things British. There music, culture and television programs out-do the ones we have in North America by far! In fact, here's a list of some of our favorite:

- Music: Radiohead, MUSE, Arctic Monkeys, The Rumble Strips, The Cribs, Klaxxons, The Wombats, Streets, The Hoosiers, Mystery Jets, Mumm-ra, The Holloways
- Tele: The Mighty Boosh, Doctor Who, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, QI, The IT Crowd, Life on Mars, Off the Hook, BBC's Robin Hood
- Comedians: Simon Pegg, Lee Mack, David O'Doherty, Bill Bailey, Phil Jupitus, Jon Richardson
- Mini-series: Shakespeare Re-told, Gormenghast
- Radio: BBC Radio 1 (especially DEV in the morning!)

What's for Dinner??

2010-03-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

While sitting back and catching up on past Gintama episodes, I was suddenly reminded that our family hot-pot machine had not been put to use lately. So, with this in mind I decided that it was time to rummage through the basement, wipe the dust of the hot-pot box and come up with a delicious meal-idea for dinner that night.

In the anime, the characters were eating sukiyaki... being that I'm living off of a student's salary I decided to forgo the expensive meat and opted for something cheaper (although still tasty and still traditionally Japanese). Can you guess what it is??? Here are pictures of the ingredients I used... I'll end the post by showing you the final product, and including a recipe.

Clockwise from top-left corner: chikuwa, firm tofu, beef tendon balls, bonito flakes and sukombu.

Suey Choy, Konjak Board, more tofu and enoki mushrooms

Konjak Board cut into triangles, sukombu (soaked and knotted)

Assorted fish-cakes, fish-balls, beef-balls, tofu and imitation crab.

Kamaboko (Japanese fish-cake)

And to be somewhat healthy, some veggies: carrots, green onions, bok choy and satoimo

Kabocha Squash... mmmm

Daikon

Enoki bundles

I also included some other ingredients, but didn't take photos of them because I'm sure you know what cubed potatoes, hard-boiled eggs and skewered chicken look like. So, have you kind of guessed what the meal was supposed to be from the various ingredients I listed?? Hmm... what other hints can I give? Well, it's a Japanese winter-dish that consists of the above ingredients, all simmered in a kelp-bonito flake broth for hours and sometimes even days. When served at vendor stalls or in oden restaurants, the fishcakes, veggies etc. are often served on skewers. The dish can be served with Karashi (Japanese hot-mustard) to dip.

It's ODEN!

The dish was fairly simple to make. Once the broth was prepared, all I had to do was add in the flavoring ingredients, allow the soup to simmer and then add in the "absorptive" ingredients and serve. Anyways, here's the recipe I used for my Oden Broth.

Oden Broth

- 10 cups dashi stock (see recipe below)
- 2 tbsp sake
- 3 tbsp mirin (or substitute 1.5 tbsp sugar)
- 1.5 tsp light soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce

Method:
1. In a wide and shallow pot, combine the broth ingredients and bring to a boil over high-heat. Then, adjust to maintain a low simmer.
2. Add in the flavoring ingredients (fish cakes, kelp knots, meat skewers) and the ingredients that take a fairly long time to cook (satoimo, daikon, potatoes and carrots etc.). Simmer for 20minutes or more.
3. Add in the "absorptive" ingredients (par-boiled kabocha, tofu, konjak, hard-boiled eggs etc.) Simmer for 10 minutes or more. Add more broth as necessary, and adjust to taste by adding more soy sauce or more sugar as needed.
4. Transfer the hot soup and some of the pot-ingredients to the communal hot-pot at the dinner table. Keep hot-pot machine on to maintain a constant low simmer.
5. Provide fresh vegetables on a serving plate at the table. Ensure that everyone at the table has their own serving utensils, bowls, plates and dishes of condiments (i.e. karashi mustard). Have communal cooking utensils (i.e. serving chopsticks and soup ladle) at the table.
6. Everyone helps themselves to the skewers of fish-cakes, tofu, vegetables and meat. As the pot clears, more ingredients from the cooking pot can be added to the hot-pot dish, or the fresh vegetables can be cooked in the hot-pot broth.
7. Serve the oden by itself, with steamed rice, salad, soba, onigiri... basically whatever you would like to complete your meal :)

Dashi Stock

Ingredients:
- 10 cups water
- 12 square inches of kombu (preserved kelp)
- 1 1/2 cups (12g) bonito flakes (dried, shaved, fish flakes)

Method:
1. Soak the kombu in the water in the large-shallow pot that you will use for cooking the oden over stove-top. Soak for 10minutes, or longer depending on personal taste.
2. Bring the kombu and water to a boil, lowering heat once bubbles begin to break the surface. Use tongs to remove the kombu, and turn off the heat.
3. Add in the bonito flakes and allow to sit for 3 minutes.
4. Strain stock through a cloth-lines sieve and place the stock back into the large pot, over medium-high heat. Use this to make your oden broth.

I served the meal with onigiri. Some were plain and some were mixed with furikake... I find this an easy, tasty and no-fuss way to serve rice.

Irish Soda Bread

2010-03-09T07:37:00.000-08:00

Well, St. Patrick's day is approaching and my dad decided that for dinner last night he'd whip up an amazingly delicious beef and vegetable stew. However, I was kind of tired of eating rice and stew so I searched the internet looking for a tasty alternative to the boring, white flecks of grain :P In my search I stumbled across Irish Soda Bread... and it peaked my interest, as I love baking and have always loved simple recipes that don't call for a lot of ingredients or a lot of prep time. I found a couple recipes out there, some that used eggs and some that used raisins and currants. I didn't want to stick raisins in the bread as I felt that it wouldn't accompany the stew very nicely, and I didn't want to use eggs because... I only had a couple left (and I kind of like my scrambled egg breakfasts... selfish me o_O). So, I modified and mashed together a couple recipes and ended up with this delightful raisin-less, egg-less version.

Irish Soda Bread
Yields 1 small loaf, 6 small scone-sized servings

Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 3/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1.5 tbsp butter, cold and cubed
- 1/2 cup buttermilk

Method
1. Mix together the first 5 ingredients.
2. Crumble in the butter, as if making short-crust pastry or biscuits
3. Slowly add in the buttermilk, stirring with a spoon (to prevent your body heat from softening the butter), until the dough comes together.
4. Shape dough into a round and flatten slightly.
5. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350degrees for 15minutes. Open oven and use a spray bottle to spray 4-5 squirts of water around the oven (you can spray the bread too, this creates steam and gives the bread a crusty exterior).
6. Close the oven door, increase to 375degrees and bake for another 15-20minutes, or until the inside is cooked and the outside is nice and crusty-golden.
7. Remove from baking sheet and slice into 6 wedges. Serve warm

This was a tasty accompaniment to the hearty stew, and the bread had a slightly sweet and salty flavor to it. The bread was pretty tasty on its own, and I actually ended up eating the majority of the bread on its own, only using it to swipe the last bits of stew out of my bowl. The good thing about this recipe is that it can really be varied to become a savory or a sweet biscuit. Maybe I'll use those raisins next time, or maybe I'll throw in some sharp cheddar cheese and herbs? Who knows?? Whatever I do, I'm sure it will be delicious.

Coconut Mascarpone Cookie

2010-03-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

I wanted to whip up a quick batch of cookies for a little hang-out with my friends, but rummaging through the fridge I realized that I didn't have any BUTTER!! WHA!! I'm not a huge fan of cookies using olive oil as a butter substitute. I find that such strong oils leave a lingering taste in your mouth after you eat those cookie, and it often overpowers the flavorings you add to the cookies. After pondering about what to do, and taking another look at what I had in the fridge, I spotted 1/2 a tub of mascarpone cheese! Whew... thank goodness I had bought this stuff, otherwise I'd have to resort to using those mini-packets of butter/margarine you get from fast-food places for breakfast (yes, my Asian inclination towards non-wastage means that I have an ice cream tub in my fridge dedicated to un-used condiment packages :P). Anywho, with my mascarpone cheese in hand, I set forth in coming up with a tasty cookie recipe from scratch!

Coconut Mascarpone Cookies
Yields 35 cookies

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup mascarpone cheese
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tsp coconut rum, +/- enough to keep the dough from being too crumbly
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Method:
1. In a large bowl, cream together the sugars, mascarpone cheese, egg whites and rum.
2. In a small bowl mix together flour, salt and baking soda
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined (adding more rum if necessary to keep the dough from being too crumbly)
4. Add in coconut, stirring until just combined
5. Use a tablespoon to make portions of dough. Hand-roll the dough portions into spheres and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a fork to gently press down the cookies (like you do for peanut butter cookies).
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes, cool on cooling rack. Enjoy!

These cookies are almost like miniature scones in texture. They're more flaky than chewy or cake-y. I really enjoyed them as they were very tender and not too greasy (like cookies that use a lot of butter). The mascarpone gave the cookies a very rich flavor, and the coconut + coconut rum gave the cookies just enough of a kick that no other flavorings were really necessary (i.e. vanilla, almond etc.) It just goes to show you how creative you can be when you have to bake something without the conventional ingredients in your kitchen... that being said, I think I'll drop by the store and buy some more butter ^-^

Lor Bak Go (Radish Cake) & Chicken Bao

2010-02-28T13:45:00.001-08:00

Normally, Sunday mornings are a time when my family likes to go out and eat dim sum. But, since my parents are still on vacation and my sisters and I didn't want to miss the Olympic Men's Hockey Gold-medal Game, we decided to make dim sum at home! I had some zongzi in the freezer from Chinese New Year, so we steamed up a couple of those as well as some gai lan. But, we wanted to round out the meal with at least 2 other dim sum dishes. So, we chose Lor Bak Go and Steamed Chicken Buns.
Lor Bak Go

Ingredients:
- 2 cups rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste
- 2 links of lap cheong (Chinese sausage), diced
- 3 cups daikon, grated
- 1/2 small onion, minced
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- vegetable oil

Method:
1. Combine rice flour, tapioca starch and salt in a large bowl.
2. Boil the daikon in a heavy-bottomed pot for 10minutes. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid. Set the liquid and cooked daikon aside
3. Heat some oil in a frying pan and cook the lap cheong, garlic and onions for 2 minutes. Set aside. (You do not need to wash the frying pan yet! You will use it to pan-fry the lor bak go)
4. Add the daikon to the flour mixture and slowly add in 3 cups of the cooking liquid. Mix until no dry clumps are visible.
5. Add the lap cheong mixture to the batter and continue to mix.
6. Pour the batter into a greased, steam-proof 8x8inch square, or 9inch round, tray. Steam for 45minutes. When finished cooking, let lor bak go cool completely.
7. Remove the lor bak go from the steaming tray and slice it into 1/2-inch slices.
8. Heat up the frying pan again to medium-high heat, adding more oil if necessary. Pan fry the lor bak go slices until crispy and golden brown on both sides.

This dish has got to be my sisters' most favorite dish at yum cha. We always order 2-3 servings of it when we go to dim sum. The final result of this recipe was gladly gobbled up by my Lor Bak Go loving sisters and they said that they could hardly tell the difference between mine and the ones we eat at the restaurant! *blush* They're so sweet...

But now, onto the chicken buns! My middle sister loves these, even more so than Char Siew Bao. Actually, she told me that she dislikes Char Siew because of the fatty, flubby and tendon-ness of the meat... too hard to chew, she says. So, with this in mind I decided to use a really nice chicken breast for the filling of the buns. The chicken breast had no flubby skin and no tendons or cartilage pieces, so there would be no risk of my sister getting picky about the meat... YAY!

Chicken Bao

Dough Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp margarine
- 3/8 cup water
- 1/2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 egg white

Filling Ingredients:
- 250g chicken breast, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 small onion, minced
- 1inch knob of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Blend in the margarine, until well incorporated.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the vinegar, water and egg white.
3. Add water mixture to flour mixture, knead until dough comes together and is smooth.
4. Roll the smooth dough into a thick log shape, roughly 1.5 inches in diameter.
5. Cover dough in cling-wrap and let rest in fridge for at least 1 hour.
6. Make the filling by mixing together the minced chicken, garlic, ginger and onions. Then, add in soy sauce and salt & pepper to taste.
7. When dough has rested, remove from cling-wrap and cut log into 10 equal sized pieces.
8. Roll dough into flattened circles, and fill with 2 tbsp of filling. Shape the buns.
9. Prepare a steam-proof plate by laying cabbage leaves on it. Arrange the chicken buns on the cabbage leaves and steam the buns for 30-40minutes.
10. Serve!

The buns were also a success! Even my youngest sister, who normally hates to eat bao bao enjoyed these buns and devoured TWO! Now, that's saying something. I quite enjoyed the buns as well. I liked the recipe because the dough was fairly simple to make, and didn't require yeast or raising time. Without the yeast to make the dough fluffy, the texture of this bao was more like a tasty noodle or a giant xiaolong bao. I will definitely have to bake this recipe again, for my parents... because I don't think there will be any left by the time they come back :P

Mmm... the delicious bao. Hehehe... look at the mini one (on the right) I made with the leftover scraps :P it looks so gibbled

Daring Bakers February '10: Tiramisu

2010-02-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

Yay! I know I've been slacking off as of late... blame it on school, my up-coming nursing preceptorship, the fact that my parents are on a week-long cruise in the Caribbean (leaving me to legal-guardian to my two younger sisters) and a silly little thing called the Olympics. My time has just been getting eaten up!! But, thankfully I was able to complete this month's Daring Baker's Challenge.

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

I wasn't too sure if I would actually get this challenge done at all! Since I had already had experience making tiramisu, I wasn't completely motivated to finish it... but, thanks to my sisters and their enthusiasm about my baking I forged ahead and even asked them to help me do some baking! Thank goodness for the motivation from my sisters, I actually found that making this tiramisu was relaxing and a good way to de-stress. I really enjoyed baking with my sisters, it was so much fun... and although I did micro-manage them a bit, we still had fun and I let them goof off from time to time.

Tiramisu

Recipe yields 6 servings

Ingredients:
For the zabaglione:
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 tbsp sugar/50gms
- 1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee)
- 1/4 tsp/1.25ml vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

For the vanilla pastry cream:
- 1/4 cup/55gms sugar
- 1 tbsp/8gms all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp/2.5ml vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3/4 cup/175ml whole milk

For the whipped cream:
- 1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%)
- 1/4 cup/55gms sugar
- 1/2 tsp/2.5ml vanilla extract

To assemble the tiramisu:
- 2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed
- 1 tsp/5ml rum extract (optional)
- 1/2 cup/110gms sugar
- 1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese (recipe below)
- 36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less)
- 2 tbsp/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:
For the zabaglione:
1. Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.
2. In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.
3. Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.
Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream:
1. Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.
2. Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.
3. Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)
4. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:
1. Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.

Prepare to Assemble:
1. Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8" by 8" should do) or one of your choice.
2. Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

Assembling the Tiramisu:
1. Working quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers (recipe below) in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.
2. Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.
3. Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.
4. To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

Mmmm... coffee flavored zabaglione

The creme anglais... also delicious

Mascarpone Cheese

Recipe yields 12oz (340g) of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients:
- 474ml (2 cups) whipping (36 %) pasteurized, preferably organic cream (between 25%-36%)
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Method:

1. Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.

2. It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir.

2. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl.

3. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.
4. Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

Ladyfingers

Recipe yields ~24 big or 45 small (2 1/2" to 3" long) ladyfingers

Ingredients:
- 3 eggs, separated
- 6 tbsp/75gms granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
- 6 tbsp /50gms confectioner's sugar,

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.
2. Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.
3. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.
4. Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5" long and 3/4" wide strips leaving about 1" space in between the strips.
5. Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.
6. Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.
7. Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.
8. Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.
9. Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

The light, fluffy and spongy batter

My sister wanted to make a heart :)

Being goofy and making a funny hand

Classically shaped Tiramisu (done in an 8x8inch pan)

Fancy shaped Tiramisu (done in a round springform pan)

The Tiramisu was quite fun to make. Piping the cookies, dunking them in coffee, layering the cream and dusting with the dessert with cocoa powder... all that culminating in a deliciously sweet treat for my sisters and I to enjoy. The Tiramisu was so rich with coffee flavor, and even my youngest sister (who's not a big fan of coffee) loved it. The mascarpone was pretty easy to make and gave the dessert a very unique flavor. Very rich and creamy, but not overpowering the aromatic coffee flavor. It's too bad my parents are away on a cruise in the Caribbean right now, because I know they'd love this dessert :( But, I'm sure I'll make it for them again sometime... and I'm sure they have plenty of sweet treats for them on the cruise!

Go Canada Go!

2010-02-23T08:54:00.001-08:00

In preparation for the big Canada vs. Germany Olympic hockey game today I thought it would be nice to make a cake! I was trying to figure out what kind of cake would be perfect to showcase my Canadian pride, and I settled for red velvet. The red cake and luscious white frosting seemed like a perfect combination of flavors and colors for the event. I used the cake recipe from: Joy of Baking and I made my own frosting (see recipe below).

White Frosting

Ingredients:
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/8 cup cream cheese
- 1 1/2 tbsp coconut rum
- 1 cup mascarpone cheese

Method:
1. Combine the cream cheese and the sugar. Mix until all the confectioner's sugar is no longer powdery but moistened by cheese
2. Add in the sour cream, and continue to mix until lumps dissolve
3. Add in the rum, mixing until well incorporated
4. Add in the mascarpone cheese, combining well
5. Use to frost your cake

The cake didn't turn out as deep-red as I would have liked, and I think there was some strange reaction that the cake had to the parchment paper that I had lined my baking pan with. For some reason, the parts of the cake which touched the parchment paper turned slightly brown in color. This didn't really impact the look that I was going for with my cake, as it kind of gave a "red & white" look to the cake itself... which was unexpected, but it looked kind of cool.

I baked my cake in a 9 x 13-inch cake pan and then divided it into 3 sections, length-wise. Once the cake cooled, I placed the pieces in the freezer for ~1hour to make slicing and frosting them easier. I then removed the cakes from the freezer and proceeded to divide each cake-piece into 2 layers.

I frosted the cake between each layer and then covered the entire cake with the rich frosting. I then decorated the cake with the Canadian hockey team logo made out of chocolate and used red-tinted coconut flakes to make the cake resemble the Canadian flag. This was a lot of fun! I sure hope my friends like the cake... and that Canada makes it on to the quarter finals tomorrow.

Olympic Fever 2010

2010-02-22T13:45:00.001-08:00

Yay! I know it's been a while, but that's just because I've been busy finishing up my final semester of nursing school! I can't believe I'm graduating on April 30th! It seems like only yesterday I entered university with wide-eyes and a belief that school would never end.

Also, I've been enjoying the crazy Vancouver Olympic festivities that are all around me! Living around the area, it's hard not to fall prey to the Olympic buzz and when you immerse yourself in the crowd, you can't help but get just a little bit excited. I had actually purchased a pair of tickets to the Olympics to watch my favorite winter sport... no, not hockey... CURLING! I seriously love that game... it's a blast to watch on TV and I was ready to take the next step and watch it in person. I've been counting down the days to watch the Olympic game with my dad, and enjoy downtown Vancouver.The event was held at the Vancouver Olympic Center, and it was great! There were 3 games going on at the same time... Great Britain vs. Sweden; Russia vs. Denmark; and China vs. Switzerland! It was hard to watch all at the same time, so I mostly focused on China's game. It was so energizing to hear the crowd go wild over curling. I thought that I was the only one who was enthusiastic about this game (because whenever I talk to my friends about it, they just don't understand why I'm so in love with the sport) but to be in a crowd full of people cheering on the skip and sweepers... I felt at home! These people understood the love of the game! In the end China beat Switzerland 8-6! It was a nail-biter, but I knew China would pull it off.

After the game, I hung out downtown with my pop to watch the Olympic flame in the cauldron roar away. There were also booths around Robson for taking pictures with the Olympic torch, so we did that too. I would have liked to try the free zip-line, but the line-up was ~6hours long! Oh well, there were better things to do with my time than line up for a chance to zoom across the sky held by a rope. My dad and I really enjoyed the downtown atmosphere and the amazing lights and such... so, we decided to head back downtown the next day and bring along my sisters and mom. We walked around Robson and did a little window shopping (Olympic souvenirs are quite pricey); then we headed back to the Olympic cauldron. We took a different route to get to the torch... and it's a good thing we did, otherwise I wouldn't have seen the most awesome shrub ever!

The most amazing shrub... I just had to take a photo.

I sure hope the Canadian-pride and communal spirit that I saw downtown continues on even after the Olympics. It was a great, once-in-a-lifetime experience and I'll never forget it.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Nanaimo Bars

2010-01-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

Hehehe... my delicious, yet drippy Nanaimo bars!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Eeeee! I epically failed in this month's challenge, and I'm Canadian... way to go :( I did not represent *sigh*. But to tell you the truth, this was actually the first time I'd ever attempted to make Nanaimo bars... ever! The graham cracker recipe went swimmingly, and the cookies/crackers turned out so delicious. And when it came to making the bottom layer of the bars, everything was going according to plan. The epic fail came when I attempted to make a different version of the middle layer of the bar... and ended up with a non-setting, gooey mess. I think I realize where I went wrong, I could have either reduced the amount of liquid or add more confectioner's sugar (sadly, I'd already added the liquid and I had run out of sugar!). Anyways, here's the recipe...

For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Nanaimo Bars

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer:
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer:
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

Top Layer:
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8x8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

For my middle layer, I simply added some seedless raspberry syrup to the mix (roughly 1/4 cup). I think that this addition of liquid should have been balanced by minimizing the amount of cream added to the mix. However, I don't think my thinking cap was on straight as the smell of chocolate and cookies was too distracting :P Oh well, the challenge was fun and the dish was delicious... although appearing strange and loppy, it was chock full of chocolate-y, raspberry goodness.