Daring Bakers Challenge: L'Opera Cake

Having been gone on vacation to California during the reveal date of this challenge, I had requested if I was able to post my DB challenge post at a later date. And voila! Here it is... finally, my first DB post... a little late, but worth the wait I must say :P

A Taste of Light: Opéra Cake
This recipe is based on Opéra Cake recipes in Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets and Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty’s Chocolate Passion.

For the Joconde
Note: The joconde can be made up to 1 day in advance and kept wrapped at room temperate

Ingredients:
- 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp (30 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 cups (225 grams) ground blanched almonds (Note: since my sister is allergic to nutmeat, I chose to ground up some blanched pine nuts in my coffee grinder, with a little bit of flour, and it worked out very well.)
- 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
- 6 large eggs
- ½ cup (70 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp (1½ ounces; 45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1.Divide the oven into thirds by positioning a rack in the upper third of the oven and the lower third of the oven.

2.Preheat the oven to 425◦F (220◦C).

3.Line two 12½ x 15½- inch (31 x 39-cm) jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and brush with melted butter.

4.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or using a handheld mixer), beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. If you do not have another mixer bowl, gently scrape the meringue into another bowl and set aside.

5. If you only have one bowl, wash it after removing the egg whites or if you have a second bowl, use that one. Attach the paddle attachment to the stand mixer (or using a handheld mixer again) and beat the almonds, icing sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and voluminous, about 3 minutes.

6.Add the flour and beat on low speed until the flour is just combined (be very careful not to overmix here!!!).

7.Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture and then fold in the melted butter. Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of each pan.

8.Bake the cake layers until they are lightly browned and just springy to the touch. This could take anywhere from 5 to 9 minutes depending on your oven. Place one jelly-roll pan in the middle of the oven and the second jelly-roll pan in the bottom third of the oven.

9.Put the pans on a heatproof counter and run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover each with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, turn the pans over, and unmold.

10. Carefully peel away the parchment, then turn the parchment over and use it to cover the cakes. Let the cakes cool to room temperature.

For the Syrup
Note: The syrup can be made up to 1 week in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator.)

Ingredients:
- ½ cup (125 grams) water
- ⅓ cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 to 2 tbsp. of honey (you may also use vanilla extract, almond extract, cognac, limoncello, coconut cream, etc.)

1.Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.

2.Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

For the Honey Buttercream

(Note: The buttercream can be made up to 1 month in advance and packed in an airtight container. If made way in advance, you can freeze the buttercream. Alternatively you can refrigerate it for up to 4 days after making it. To use the buttercream simply bring it to room temperature and then beat it briefly to restore its consistency.)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 large egg yolk
-1 tbsp vanilla (optional)

1. In a small saucepan, heat honey to 225◦F (107◦C) and slowly add in the egg yolks; whisking constantly.

2. Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and the mixture is cool to the touch (5 minutes or so).

3.When mixture cools, add in beaten butter.

4. With the mixer on medium speed, begin adding in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been incorporated, raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thick and shiny.

5. At this point add in vanilla and beat for an additional minute or so.

6. Refrigerate the buttercream, stirring it often, until it’s set enough (firm enough) to spread when topped with a layer of cake (about 20 minutes).

For the White Chocolate Ganache/Mousse
(Note: The mousse can be made ahead and refrigerated until you’re ready to use it.)

Ingredients:
- 7 ounces white chocolate
- 1 cup plus 3 tbsp heavy cream (35% cream)
- 1 tbsp liquer of your choice (Bailey’s, Amaretto, etc.)

1.Melt white chocolate and the 3 tbsp heavy cream in a small saucepan.

2.Stir to ensure that it’s smooth and that the chocolate is melted. Add the tbsp of liqueur to the chocolate and stir. Set aside to cool completely.

3.In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form.

4.Gently fold whipped cream into cooled chocolate to form a mousse.

5.If it’s too thin, refrigerate it for a bit until it’s spreadable.

6.If you’re not going to use it right away, refrigerate until you’re ready to use.

For the Glaze
(Note: It’s best to make the glaze right when you’re ready to finish the cake.)

Ingredients:
- 14 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream (35% cream)

1.Melt the white chocolate with the heavy cream. Whisk the mixture gently until smooth.

2.Let cool for 10 minutes and then pour over the chilled cake. Using a long metal cake spatula, smooth out into an even layer.

3.Place the cake into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set.

Assembling the Opéra Cake

(Note: The finished cake should be served slightly chilled. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 day)

Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Working with one sheet of cake at a time, cut and trim each sheet so that you have two pieces (from each cake so you’ll have four pieces in total): one 10-inch (25-cm) square and one 10 x 5-inch (25 x 12½-cm) rectangle.

Steps:

1. Place one square of cake on the baking sheet and moisten it gently with the flavoured syrup.

2. Spread about three-quarters of the buttercream over this layer.

3. Top with the two rectangular pieces of cake, placing them side by side to form a square. Moisten these pieces with the flavoured syrup.

4. Spread the remaining buttercream on the cake and then top with the third square of joconde. Use the remaining syrup to wet the joconde and then refrigerate until very firm (at least half an hour).

5. Prepare the ganache/mousse (if you haven’t already) and then spread it on the top of the last layer of the joconde. Refrigerate for at least two to three hours to give the ganache/mousse the opportunity to firm up.

6. Make the glaze and after it has cooled, pour/spread it over the top of the chilled cake. Refrigerate the cake again to set the glaze.

7. Serve the cake slightly chilled; recipe yields approximately 20 servings.

This experience has been a challenging one, but an adventure none-the-less. I really enjoyed attempting a new level of creativity in my baking skills. I can hardly wait until next month's challenge. Yeay for Daring Bakers! I have now joined their ranks...

I'm all packed and ready to go...

Well, since I'll be working all day today and won't get back until late tonight, I decided to start packing my bags yesterday. Now that that's all done, all I have to do is get up bright and early tomorrow, drive down to Seatac and take my 10:00am flight down to sunny California. Toodles for now...

Bananas Foster Galette

So, there's been this Tenderflake™ frozen pie crust just kind of hanging around in our freezer for the past month. I'm not quite sure why they always only package pie crusts in pairs... they should let you choose to buy a single crust. Anyways, I decided that today I would use up the pie crust to save it from getting that "delightful" freezer-burn taste and make something that I've always wanted to try... a galette.

This rustic-style tart caught my eye a long time ago, but I just haven't gotten around to attempting it. And now that I'm ready to bake a galette, I have to find the perfect filling. I thought long and hard, and then realized that I had a couple banana's lying around my kitchen, I had raisins and I always have rum (well, not always... :P). This brought to mind a recipe for bananas foster that I had made last summer. So, in combining the two desserts, I envisioned a masterpiece of culinary delight... the Bananas Foster Galette.


Bananas Foster Galette

Ingredients:
- 1 pie crust, frozen or home-made
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup rum
- zest of one orange
- 2 bananas, sliced
- 2/3 cup chopped nuts, you can use pecans, walnuts or another favorite (I used pine-nuts)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 cup milk
- 1/4 cup condensed milk
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp each of allspice and cinnamon
- 1 egg white
- 2-3 tsp demerara sugar

Method:
1. If using frozen pie crust: let thaw at room temperature for 15mins, or until it is soft and can be moulded without breaking. After thawing, remove from pan and place on a baking sheet; flatten crust slightly.

2. If using home-made pie crust: after chilling, roll out crust into a 10.5-inch circle (it doesn't have to be perfectly round... that's the beauty of this rustic tart!)

3. Soak raisins in rum for at least 5mins. Meanwhile, sprinkle orange rind over the base of the tart; remember when filling this tart to leave a 1-inch border.

4. Arrange sliced bananas in an even layer over the pie-base. Sprinkle on the chopped nuts.

5. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter, milk, condensed milk, maple syrup and spices. Heat over medium-high heat for 2-3mins or until the mixture begins to boil and thicken. Remove from heat.

6. Add in the rum and raisins to the saucepan, do not stir. Light a match and place it in the saucepan, being sure to make contact with the rum. This will burn off any access alcohol, and remove the bitterness from the final product.

7. Return saucepan to heat, and mix rum+raisins into the sauce. Continue heating until sauce thickens slightly (2mins).

8. Remove mixture from heat and let cool for at least 5 mins, the sauce will continue to thicken.

9. Spoon the rum sauce over the bananas and nuts. (Note: you may not need to use all of the sauce.) Use just enough sauce to coat the bananas and nuts well; and again, leave a 1-inch border.

10. Fold the pie-crust edges into the center, moving systematically in one direction. Gently press the crust edge to seal in the filling.

11. Lightly brush the crust edge with egg white, sprinkle on the demerara sugar and bake the galette for 30-40mins at 350-degrees.

12. Remove from oven, allow galette to cool on the bakingsheet for 3mins. Serve warm, with ice cream.

The ooey-gooey filling... Yum!

Folding in the edges

One of my sisters really enjoyed the pie. She loves bananas and anything that is flaky and pastry-like. My other sister felt that the galette was too sweet, and that she couldn't handle the intense rum flavor. I agree that the galette was very sweet, but I honestly love my sweets... I think I have a very, very sweet tooth. My parents could taste the rum right away, and my dad asked for a second helping. My mom enjoyed it, but could only handle the sweetness of one piece. There was about a half-cup of rum sauce left over from this recipe, and it goes very well with ice cream. Swirl the leftover sauce with 1 liter of ice cream, and you have yourself a delicious new flavor... banana foster ice-cream. Hmm, I should market this flavor to Häagen-Dazs.

Cheeseballs

I've been searching the net for a good recipe for baked mochi-bread but haven't been able to find one that doesn't use a mix. But, as I searched the many blogs out there I did stumble upon an interesting recipe for baked cheeseballs that use glutinous rice flour and tapioca starch. I decided to test drive this recipe for my lunch today, and let's just say that I think that I ate enough cheese to last me for a month!

Thanks Florence for the recipe, the cheeseballs were very tasty and parmesan made the whole kitchen smell delightful.

As you can see, the cheese from some of the mochi-balls decided that they'd escape before consumption. Tsk, tsk... what am I to do with them? I guess I'll just have to gobble those ones up first :P

A Long Weekend of Eating Out (Part 1)

Feels like I just keep eating, and when I'm not eating, I'm baking... and then eating :P This weekend was a doozy for me and my imaginary diet; my parents thought that dim-sum would be less crowded this long-weekend, but they were wrong. I guess Richmond folk don't go away for the May long-weekend... but then again, neither did we! So, we went to our favorite dim-sum restaurant Neptune. Although I really enjoy their food and the selection, I think it would be great to try out a new dim-sum spot. The family has been searching, but have yet to find a yum-cha place that has "$2.50 a dish" specials and also a great selection. Anywho... on with the pictures!

We order the usual: siu mai, har gaw, lor bak goh, steamed beef tripe, baked radish pastry, chicken rice... and then we tried some new stuff!

I'll admit... this isn't a new dish, but the picture of this fried mantou turned out so beautifully. You can see the nice swirl and the bun looks like it's glowing! It was also tasty

Their jook was also very tasty, it had lots of chicken, green onions and century eggs (all the good stuff!)

I had my eye on the sweets, here is Neptune's steam buns with lotus paste and salted mash.

I wanted to try some abalone, but this dish didn't really show off the delicate ingredient. The dumpling was full of cabbage and mushroom, with one small piece of abalone (the size of a dime) *sigh* oh well, I'll just buy a can of the stuff from T&T.

More Sweets! Their egg-custard cake was very tender and moist. I think it had some flaked coconut pieces in between layers... Delicious

We've been to Neptune so many times that we practically have the menu memorized. Maybe they'll surprise us someday buy adding some really random dish to the dim-sum menu, but until then we're happy with the regular stuff.

A Long Weekend of Eating Out (Part 2)

Since my sister's didn't have school on Monday, I decided to treat them to their favorite asian lunch-spot... Bubble World! I've posted previously regarding this restaurant, when I treated my sisters to lunch for Jackie's b-day, you can check it out here. Since the last time we dined there, it seems to have made quite a few changes.

Walking into the restaurant, the first thing my sisters and I noticed was that they had renovated the place. Their were no longer individual tables but a bunch of booths. The booths made it feel more secluded and private, usually those things are good in restaurants but we found it very hard to get attention from the servers. Besides the new decor, they also changed the menu and the presentation of the food. The bowls and plates seemed more "over-the-top" and modern, rather than the more rustic and traditional dining ware that we had been expecting.

Their gyoza was just the way we like them, crispy on the outside and steamy on the inside. (The plate they served it on is identical to the plate I use at home... it's from Daiso, I just know it!)

Pork Intestines in Spicy Sauce, served with vegetables and steamed rice ($6.95). The main reason I ordered this was because the "spicyness-level" was 4, I love anything spicy and this dish is no exception. The sauce wasn't as spicy as I expected, but it still tasted great. The pieces of pork-blood in the dish were a surprising treat!

Curry-chicken and Rice ($6.95). My sister enjoyed this dish

See what I mean about the modern-style bowls! Beef and Noodles in Soup ($5.95) not as good as I remember it being, my sister didn't enjoy it that much either. The portion was a bit small, as compared to our last visit... and that dish use to cost only $4.95!

It was kind of disappointing to see that our favorite bubble-tea restaurant had changed so much since our last visit. But looking on the bright side, perhaps they'll change management again sometime soon and the quality, service and decor will be improved.

Can't Wait Until Sunday...

Just like a little kid again, I'm counting down the days until I head off to the happiest place on Earth. Disneyland!!! I can't wait. I'll be leaving on Sunday and won't be back until next Saturday morning... so, needless-to-say I won't be blogging while I'm down there. But, I'll probably post some pics of my vacation. This year's been a doozy and I think that it's about time I finally took a real break from studying. Now that my second year of nursing is complete, I can finally say that I'm half-way through the program. Only 50% more to go!!! How exciting, but anyways, back to being on vacation and having fun (not that nursing isn't fun :P)

Girlie Night

Okay, so staying out of the kitchen is next to impossible for me :P Last night, my sisters and I spent the night-in and celebrated our girliness. We didn't really feel like making anything too demanding, so we used a Betty Crocker Brownie Mix *gasp* I know!

Actually, the mix turned out really fudgy and delicious. The ganache-frosting was so simple and perfect. One day, I will find the perfect "from-scratch" recipe for brownies that turn out as perfect as these Betty Crocker ones, but until then I might as well just enjoy these :)

Taking a break from the kitchen...

Don't worry, I know the title of this post sounds bad... but when I say taking a break, I mean for like a week or so :P. I've decided to start going eco-friendly and have spent most of my free-time making a chip bag purse. You would never guess how many chip-bags, granola bar wrappers, noodle wrappers and other plastic bits I saved from the landfill by simply making this bag. I've used it soo much over the last week and gotten a lot of compliments, I just love being good to the environment and looking stylish at the same time.

Grapefruit Curd Cups

Okay, so I decided to make a separate post of my SHF recipe. The last time I commented on doing something citrus-y for Mother's Day... but, the celebration was just so hectic that I completely forgot! I didn't forget to make the recipe, I just forgot to serve it! When does that ever happen? The citrus dessert was sitting in my fridge, yearning to be eaten but alas... it would have to wait until the next day to be devoured :P

As I previously commented, I am very excited to be making a citrus dessert. To tell you the truth, I haven't really used much citrus lately... aside from a little lemon juice here and there, but I don't think that counts. This time though, I decided to use a lesser-used fruit... GRAPEFRUIT! Yum! I simply love the bitter-sweet taste of grapefruit, it's one of the most simple and elegant tastes out there. So anyways... without further adieu, here is my contribution to SHF #43... Grapefruit Curd Cups!

Grapefruit Curd Cups

Ingredients:

- Juice of 2 large grapefruits (approximately 1 cup), strained

- 1 cup granulated sugar

- 2 eggs

- 2 tsp corn starch + 1 tsp water (thickening slurry)

Method:

1. Combine sugar and grapefruit juice in a small pot and stir over medium heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Once dissolved, remove from heat and allow to cool to a warm temperature.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the two eggs together.

3. Slowly add egg to the grapefruit + sugar mixture, be sure to constantly stir the curd in order to prevent chunks of egg from forming.

4. Strain the curd, return to heat and cook over medium heat until the curd begins to thicken (approximately 5mins). Stir constantly.

5. Slowly add in the slurry mixture and continue to cook curd until it thickens further, 2-3 mins.

6. Once cooked, set aside and let cool before placing into serving cups.

7. Decorate as you wish and enjoy.

For the original SHF #43 Post:
http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2008/05/announcing-sugar-high-friday-43-citrus.html

Thick Toast

Okay, I'll admit my toast isn't really that thick, but at least I tried :P I have been wanted to try the thick toast that the sell at the Bubble-tea shops, but haven't been able to convince myself that a piece of toast is worth payint $4.25. Are they crazy!!?!? So, I decided to make my own... I have all the ingredients, so why not? I sliced up a loaf of Cobs White Bread (the best white loaf ever... aside from the milk bread from T&T) and stuck it in the toaster oven. Once one side was nicely browned, I toasted the other side. Then I slathered on the peanut butter and poured on the condensed milk. *drool* this dish was heavenly.... It was crispy, fluffy and wonderfully sweet. Next time, I will definitely slice the bread thicker and maybe try out some different toppings. Maybe tonight?

Insadong

Rating: *** out of *****

In celebration of Mother's Day, my birthday and my dad's birthday we decided to try out a Korean BBQ place in Burnaby. I've driven by this restaurant every Saturday, as I make my way to work (at Lougheed Mall) and I've always been interested in trying it out. My mom was also very keen to try this place after reading all the rave review on dinehere.ca. We were psyched to try out some authentic Korean Barbeque and celebrate many years of awesome family memories.

Since my sister is allergic to seafood, we opted not to eat the seafood hot-pot. Instead we went for the 2-3 person BBQ combo. You may think that the 2-3 person combo is not enough food to feed a family of 5, but they give you so much meat and other stuff that if we ordered the 4-5 person combo, we would not have finished even half of it!

Here is the appetizer, of 3pcs Radish Seaweed Roll (w/ jellyfish and garlic sauce). We thought the presentation was very unique, and this cute dish had a very interesting flavor. I enjoyed it!

I had my heart set on eating the Korean Seafood Pancake, but my parents really wanted the Japche. In the combo, you had a choice of either/or, so we got the Japche for the combo and ordered a separate appetizer of the pancake (it was $9.99). This was my favorite, it was crispy on the outside, full of shellfish meat and fluffy on the inside... Delish!

Here's the Bulgogi Japche, it was quite small. So, we were glad we got it with the combo instead of buying it separately (which would have cost $13.99). It was only so-so, I've had better.

This Beef Salad was quite interesting. The dressing was a bit too oily for my taste, but the marinated beef (that's hiding under all the greens) was very tender and juicy.

Oooo... look at all that meat. There was some more on the left-side of the plate, but our server placed it on the grill before I could get a shot (That's why the plate looks so empty)

Grilling our meat, what fun! It was exciting to watch all the juices flow out of the beef and cook the meat exactly to our liking.

Soybean Soup Anyone? This soup was very hearty. It had a nice texture, almost like miso soup but with a slightly different flavor. There were also 2 clams hiding at the bottom of the bowl! What a treat :)

If you ever go to Korean BBQ at Insadong, be sure to make good use of the bell on the side of the wall. If you don't press the bell, you won't be pleased with the service. But if you do use the bell, your server will promptly respond and gladly provide any assistance you need.

Overall, the meal was good. I must say that there was actually too much meat for my liking. I guess I'm just use to having lots of rice and then eating a little bit of meat and veggie on the side. Too much meat made me feel a little gross. The atmosphere was very traditional, stylish and inviting and the servers were friendly. The only comment I might make is that if you have allergy to seafood you may want to avoid this restaurant. When asking some of the servers/waiters if there was seafood in some of the dishes I'm not sure they completely understood what we were asking; and sometimes they said no, when there were obviously pieces of seafood in the dish. That's not to say that if you have allergies to seafood you shouldn't go, because my sister does and we were careful and all worked out well, I'm just telling anyone who has allergies to err on the side of caution when dining here. But other than that the food was yum! And the celebration was even better.

Lunch-time Delights: Chicken and Basil Salad Sandwich

I opted for a simple, simple lunch yesterday. Sandwiches are both easy and delicious, especially when you don't really feel like cooking up a storm. This sandwich is basically a chicken salad sandwich (as the title of the post suggests), I simply took the filling, placed it between two pieces of tastey-grilled bread and then layered on the veggies! Yum

Chicken Salad Filling
Ingredients:
- 2 cups chicken, shredded/diced
- 1/3 cup mayo (more or less, depending on how mayo-y you like it)
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 1/4 cup basil, minced
- 2 tbsp cilantro, minced
- salt + pepper to taste

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients together. Plain and simple!

Happy Mother's Day

This mother's day was a good one. Saturday night, we went to a Korean BBQ spot to celebrate my dad's b-day, my b-day and an early mother's day (I'll post a review later this week). So, for Sunday's treat, I decided not to make a breakfast for mom because we were all still full from Saturday night's meat-fest :P We decided to simply go to church and then come home for a brunch style meal and good thing too, it gave me some extra time to prep for the meal. The menu was simple, consisting of potato-parsnip latkes, tea sandwiches, bacon and eggs florentine. I wasn't sure if this was going to be enough food, but turns out it was... hooray! (And good thing too, because our fridge is so full that I'm surprised anything is still being kept cold). I love my mom and she deserves all the love in the world; she's amazing, so supportive, thoughtful, cheerful and caring (sometime's she's crazy too... but I love that). We all had a great relaxing brunch and then decided to go for a nice walk; the sun finally decided to show it's face, after a long week of rain and gloom. It was simply a great day to celebrate mothers and especially my mom, because she is the best. Yes, this mother's day was very minimalist and I tried not to go overboard with cooking... simplicity truly is wonderful!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOMS!

Here's the recipe for the eggs florentine, the sauce I think could have been more cheesy... so go crazy with the cheese!

Sugar High Friday #43: Citrus

May 5, 2008:
How stoked am I to do this months SHF! So superly stoked. The theme is "baking with citrus" and I really love citrus. I could simply remake some of the past recipes I've done using citrus... i.e. orange-honey madelienes or lemon bars, but that would be too easy. I've had this recipe that I've been waiting to try that's been just sitting on the back-burner of my brain and I can't wait to make it. I was actually planning on preparing it for Mother's Day which is coming up next week! How perfect is this SHF!? So perfect that I couldn't have planned it better myself :P You'll just have to wait until Mother's Day to see what I'm cookin' up!

For more info, check out the SHF #43 Challenge:
http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2008/05/announcing-sugar-high-friday-43-citrus.html

Update: May 30, 2008
Here's the round-up posts, they're split up into two posts.
Part 1: http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2008/05/sugar-high-friday-43-citrus-round-up.html
Part 2: http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2008/05/sugar-high-friday-43-citrus-round-up_30.html

Bailey's Mint Chocolate Cookies

I was looking for a really quick sugar fix, and for some reason I realized that I was craving cookies... but not just any cookies, alcohol-laden cookies! I know... who would've guessed. So, I scoured the internet in search of a good recipe and by-jove I think I've found it. (See the original recipe here). I only made some minor changes to the recipe, I added 1/4 cup more flour because I upped the Baileys content to 1/2 cup. I then decided to use mint-chocolate chips to replicate the Baileys Mint Flavored Irish Cream. This combination and the increased content of Baileys turned out wonderfully; the flavor of the alcohol came through very nicely and the mint wasn't too overpowering. I will definitely be making these sometime soon.