Fried Blue Tomatoes

Moist Chocolate Cake - The Best!

2011-01-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

I really hope I don't get in trouble for this. :( But here goes.
Last year, sometime near the end of the year, I had to bring some morning snacks for the staff at our school. I really really really wanted to bake some yummy and super moist chocolate cake so I went a searching for a recipe online. All I did was type 'moist chocolate cake' on google. There were quite a few recipes, as you can imagine, so I did my research and sifted through a few recipes and landed on this one. The ingredients and the how-to just looked like they would work beautifully. I baked little moist chocolate cupcakes out of them and they really were the best kind of chocolate cake. They almost tasted like one of those high-end chocolate cakes that you get from really expensive pastry shops.

I was utterly pleased with them. But I could not blog about them because I forgot the site. I know. This is very very bad. I took screen shots of the recipe but could not find the original site for me to let you know where I got the recipe from. Bad. Bad. But I will keep searching and let you know the original site when I find it. But in the meantime. Enjoy them. They will be certain to brighten up anyone's day.

Peanut butter Cookies

2011-01-11T05:29:00.000-08:00

Here are the peanut butter cookies I baked for my colleagues for Christmas. I'd stopped doing Christmas goodie bags for awhile. Only because Christmas time always gets so hectic, I eliminated some things to alleviate stress and this was one of them. But this year I opted to go ahead with the Christmas bags at work, as I was going to be in a new role the following year which meant I will not be working with the same people anymore. I wanted to show them how much I enjoyed working with them and what better way to do that than with cookies. Peanut butter cookies.

I have to say, readers, that these cookies taste better than their scrumptious appearance, if you can believe it. They really are amazing cookies and should definitely be in everyone's baking repertoire. They freeze very well, too. Oooh, almost forgot. I used crunchy peanut butter - which is the best kind of peanut butter. I also used regular sugar to coat the cookies but the crystalized(?) ones (the bigger sugar) will probably work better - as is shown on Smitten Kitchen's post.

Here's the Smitten Kitchen link to the recipe. She got it from the Magnolia Bakery book. :)
By the way. How was your Christmas and New Year's?

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2010-11-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

So. The other day, I was faced with a problem I'd never had. Bags of ground pumpkins. The story is, is that Mum was here in Auckland for a little while to take care of me while I was in the hospital and was busy making me all sorts of stuff with all sorts of stuff which included pumpkins. She bought one huge pumpkin and had just too much leftover so froze all of it and left me with it. I scrap a lot of recipes but never anything to do with pumpkins. But I was up for the challenge. Lucky for me, it is autumn in the Northern Hemisphere which means many pumpkin recipes floating around the foodie blog world so it wasn't hard to score some scrumptious-looking recipes. I went with How to Eat a Cupcake's pumpkin cupcake recipe. And I am now in love with pumpkins in bakings. Yu-Ummm. These were unbelievably moist and I absolutely loved the spice it had with all the cinnamon and the etecetra's. I added white chocolate bits to half of the recipe and toasted walnuts to the other half. How to Eat a Cupcake had toasted pecans which I imagine would be divine as well. These will also go fabulous with cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
Cupcake recipe adapted from How to Eat a Cupcake who adapted it from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped or white chocolate

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, and eggs. Add the flour mixture and whisk to combine completely. Stir in the chopped walnuts or white chocolate.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 22-24 minutes (my oven took 17 minutes). Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.
Spoon the glaze over the cupcakes and serve.

Banana Butterscotch Syrup Cake

2010-10-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

This happened to me.

But don't you feel bad about me. The absolute deliciousness of this cake made up for it. Big time.

I finally got off my butt to bake something out of my beautiful book: "Classic Cakes" by the Australian Women's Weekly and, just as I imagined, the book did not disappoint. My very first cake out of this book was a huge success, even though the cake decided not to stay in tact as a cake.

This is another classic 'moist' cake. It freezes well and it stays moist all the way through for a long long time.
A note: I used roasted walnuts (chopped of course) because I prefer them with my banana cakes. They were gorgeous. I know I say this a lot but trust me. You want to bake this cake.

Banana Butterscotch Syrup Cake
from "Classic Cakes" by Australian Women's Weekly

125g butter, softened
3/4 C (165g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 C mashed banana (about 2 large overripe bananas) *I used 3 to get rid of all of my overripe bananas. I kinda liked it!
3/4 C (110g) self0raising flour
3/4 C (110g) plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4C (110g) hazelnuts, roasted, chopped finely ( like I said, I used walnuts and they were divine!)
BUTTERSCOTCH SYRUP
1/2C (110g) firmly packed brown sugar
30g butter, chopped
3/4 C (180ml) water

The Cake

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/160 degrees C fan0forced. Grease deep 19cm-square cake pan; line base with baking paper.
Beat butter and sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in banana, then combined sifted flours and soda, and nuts. Spread mixture into pan; bake about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, make butterscotch syrup.
Stand cake in pan 5 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto wire rack set over tray. Drizzle hot syrup over hot cake.
BUTTERSCOTCH SYRUP: Combine sugar and butter in small saucepan; stir over heat until butter melts. Add the water and bring to the boil, stirring; remove from heat.

Lemon Cupcakes with Yogurt Marmalade

2010-10-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Straight to the cupcake talk. :)
Here is a repeat of one of my lemon cupcakes that I made when I first started baking. These are officially my favourite lemon cupcake recipe and if I want an idiot-proof lemon cupcake recipe, this will be the one I'll go to. They are exactly light and fluffy and moist. They - like any good cupcake - taste much better the next day, especially if they've been in the refrigerator.

My original plan was to try out this (apparently) amazing frosting to go with these cupcakes but I just did not have the time for it so I used a quickie-fix topping which was a guaranteed yum-ness: yogurt marmalade topping. :) Remember that one from Pioneer Woman?

Trust me. These will not disappoint you.

Cupcake Recipe: Clicke here!
Yogurt Marmalade Topping: Clickity click!

Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut Cookies

2010-09-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

So, out of no where, this recipe sprung up on the blog, Wee Treats by Tammy. It had no rising agent and no milk. But by the power of her delicious photography, I was persuaded and decided to quench my thirst for some choc chip cookies and baked these. They were interesting. The dough was crumby. Don't know if it was supposed to be but it was. So, I had to really mold the crumbs into the shape of a cookie. I think next time I might add a bit more liquidy agent like milk or egg, and yes I pledge to a next time for these cookies.

I added toasted walnuts instead of hazelnuts. I chopped them up and just toasted them on a frying pan on medium heat (with no oil or anything) until the aroma of roasted walnut filled up the kitchen. Yes, I went by my sense of smell to decide whether they were done roasting. I probably roasted them for about 3-4 minutes or a little bit more. I really think that walnuts were an ingenious choice for these cookies.

The vanilla was very pronounced but these cookies really were D-licious.

The Recipe

Some Gorgeousness...

2010-07-25T01:07:00.000-07:00

Here's some gorgeousness for ya.

(Not) my first baking book, but I want to say my first proper baking book as my previous baking books were those thin, magazine-like books with titles like 'Quickest Muffins.' And such books were purchased as a college student from the 'sale' pile of Whitcoulls and my baking only lasted a couple of months before my short attention span moved on to another avenue of interest. So here it is. From Women's Weekly - "Classic Cakes." I actually bought this last Christmas. It was a Christmas prezzie to myself. Tee hee~

I may be breaking the foodie blog law by posting this because I have not baked anything from this book yet. I have been gushing over all the beautiful pictures though and have been dreaming about baking some of these gorgeousness into life.

Another law that I may be breaking is that I am having a baked goods diet (Gasp!). I know. How contradicting is my life? I'm a rebel. :P But this is only for a little while for various reasons. I'll still be cooking stuff though so I won't be taking a break from blogging.

If I may, let me end with a proud baker's moment I had at a doctor's office, recently. I was waiting in the waiting lounge(?) flicking through Women's Weekly and found this bread pudding recipe that looked just so amazing to pass up. I thought about asking the receptionist if I could rip out the page but chickened out and decided to write the recipe onto my scheduling diary instead. Ha! Yes, I sat there scribbling away the recipe and I felt so proud of myself! The funny thing is that I've never had bread pudding before in my life and I don't even know if I like the stuff. But the recipe looked way too good with bananas and milk and raisins and ahhhhhhh.... You get the picture. :)
Anyway. Happy baking wherever you are. :)

Tollhouse Brownies

2010-07-15T03:10:00.000-07:00

I knew that if I made a batch of brownies, that I would probably eat the entire batch on my own..not that I do not enjoy sharing but because I've been that brownie-hungry. I had been restraining myself from baking brownies because I was worried about my expanding waist line (they are worse in the winter! have you noticed?) but in the end I gave in.

I read up on 'brownies' and apparently there are three types of brownies in general. The fudgy kind, the cake-y kind, and the chewy kind. I vote for the chewy kind - always. And that is what I got. Crispy top and the chewy, chewy middle....
ahhhhh.......the joy............

The Tollhouse Brownies

1 2/3 C granulated sugar
3/4C cocoa powder (I used a brand called Sun Valley - these have worked really well in all my brownies and other bakings)
3/4C butter (170g)
2 Tbsp strong coffee or water (I made very strong coffee with instant coffee)
2 large eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 1/3 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 ts salt
3/4 C chopped walnuts
1/4C chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate bar (I used Nestle dark choc bits..they were awesome! I also added more than what's asked)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Combine butter and cocoa powder in a small bowl, and place over a pot of simmering water. Ensure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Add the coffee or water and stir to melt the ingredients.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Add the vanilla. When the butter and chocolate have melted and come together, slowly stir the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture. (Have the chocolate mixture cool down a bit before you do this so the eggs don't cook when you mix them together)

Add the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Stir this into the chocolate and egg mixture and combine. Fold in the nuts, saving a handful to sprinkle on top.

Pour the batter into the pan, sprinkle chocolate chips or chocolate chunks and walnuts. Bake for 18-25 minutes depending on your oven. Remove from the oven and let it cool down before cutting it into bars.

The Best Ever Banana Cake

2010-06-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

So, I was in charge of bringing cake for my friend's birthday. Ever since I've known her she has sung about banana cake. Yes, her and banana cake are in a deep, meaningful relationship. And so, even though I could have bought a perfectly edible banana cake from an awesome cake store, I thought I'd brave my months of bake-break and create one for my lovely friend. I had scrapped a few banana cake recipes but they weren't good enough so I went a-searching for the perfect cake. I stumbled upon the below and it was an absolute winner. Friends who said they weren't banana cake fans were gushing over it and a guy who's never baked in his life asked for the recipe.
So, here it is from me. to you.

The Best Ever Banana Cake
adapted from My Baking Addiction who adapted it from Recipezaar

Ingredients

1 1/2 C bananas, mashed, ripe
2 tsp lemon juice
3 C flour (I used all-purpose)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C butter, softened, room temp
2 1/8 C sugar
3 large eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C buttermilk, room temp

Frosting

1/2 c butter, softened
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 C confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 275 deg F (150 deg C). Greese and flour a 9X13 pan.
In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice. set aside
In a medium bow, mix flour, baking soda and slat. set aside
In a large bowl, cream 3/4 C butter and 2 1/8 C sugar until light and fluffy (this'll look like crumbs). Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla
Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist. (And folks, this works!!!!)
Frosting:
Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 tsp vanilla. Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
Spread on cooled cake.

PS - there's a bit of a discrepancy in the pictures. i baked TWO banana cakes. one was square, the other one was round. both delicious! ;)

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

2009-12-04T23:15:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have this dilemma? You bake something amazing. People compliment. (Big sheepish but proud smiles for that!) And then people creep up to you and ask for the recipe. I'm gonna be super honest here because apparently that is the best policy. I deliberate whether to give out that recipe or to keep it to myself. Do you think I'm being selfish? But shouldn't I be able to keep some recipes so that I (I!) can be the special person who brings joy to people with my bakings? What do y'all think?

Anyhoo....
I made these. I love these. I love strawberries. Strawberries are like those rare breeds: gorgeous to look at and equally gorgeous on the inside.

Here's what I did:
(I used milk chocolate but I do prefer them with white or dark chocolate.) I melted the chocolate over simmering water and dipped the strawberries. Then I put the chocolate dipped strawberries on pans lined with cooking paper and put'em in the refrigerator until the chocolates hardened. And voila~! You have the best looking, best tasting snack in the world. Big smiles.

Question: Anyone know the solution to the bottom of the pan chocolates? They either hardened up quickly or have cooked but they refused to be melted when I reheated them. So my last few strawberries got lumpy chocolates.

Wicked Chocolate Brownies

2009-12-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

Hello. How have you been?
I'm great. A bit busy but fantastic. You know why I'm great? I have two weeks until my summer vacation starts. Oh~ Yeah~~~~ :) If I may, I do have a grumble, though. The weather is totally playing mind games with me. It's like summer is playing babyish peek-a-boo, ya know? I'm over it. But what can I do? I can't force it out of its peek-a-boo state. I just have to be patient and let it come when it's ready. But I know when it does come, it's going to be fantastic.

I've realised that I talk about weather a lot here. They say, that one of the best small talk topics is weather. Small talk = Convo with strangers. I'm trying to think how I can get past being acquaintances with you so we can get past the small talk phase. It'll come. I'm sure. :)

In the meantime, I've got a recipe for ya.

As novice baker, I try to follow the footsteps of the greats. There are a few (as you've noticed) that I totally look up to in the baker's blog world. And there's something that I've noticed about these bakers. It is that they get their amazing recipes from almost anywhere including....food packets. It is not the 'where' that counts but the final product, right? So...that's what I did. There was a chocolate brownie recipe that I've noticed on the packet of Champion Flour and I decided to try it out.

Apologies about the shaky photos.

I seem to have shaky hands these days.

I'm wondering if I'm lacking in certain nutrition. Hmmm...

This recipe is chock-full of cocoa and sugar (dang, it had a lot of sugar!) and I absolutely loved the texture of it. A bit of moist and gooey with a crispy top...my kinda brownie, baby~

Enjoy. :)

Wicked Chocolate Brownies

From Champion Flour packet

200g room temp butter, softened (I used unsalted. Packet didn't specify)
1 1/2C sugar
1C cocoa
3 eggs - room temp
1/2C standard flour (I sifted)
150g roughly chopped white chocolate or 3/4 C roughly chopped walnuts (I used 3/4C of chopped macadamia nuts because it is what I had. It was awesome but I would definitely add the chocolate next time)
Icing sugar to dust

Preheat oven 150 degrees C (about 302 degrees F) and grease a 20cm (about 8 inches) baking tin/pan.
With an electric mixer on high speed beat butter, sugar and cocoa for 4-5 minutes until creamy. (The batter will be super crumbly but it'll come together)
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in flour and chocolate (or nuts) and transfer mixture to greased baking tin.
Bake for 1 hour or until the surface of the brownie appears cracked. The centre should appear almost uncooked.
Cool in the tin and cut into squares.
Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-11-17T19:27:00.000-08:00

Let's talk about what stirs your pot.
What stirs your pot? What rattles your cage? What kills your buzz? What annoys you? (An endless array of idioms may be???)
For me, movies like 'Nights in Rodanthe' - they made me all excited with Richard Gere and Diane Lane... and then when I finally got around to seeing it? Zip. Nothing. Nada. What about rain on the day you planned a beach picnic - grrrrrrrr~!!!!! Talk to any Aucklander and they'll know what I'm talking about. How about when people cancel on you when you've been looking forward to seeing them all week. Bastards! >:-[
I'm not trying to entice you to the dark side of negativity, I'm just trying to transition into talking about my cookies. My chocolate chip cookies...... :)

I had one of those days. Y'know, one of those days when you need someone, something, some song to make you feel better? Well, I was having one of those days so, I decided to bake me some chocolate chip cookies. I have about a million chocolate chip cookie recipes and, yes, I do plan to try aaaall of'em. But that wasn't the day to trial a recipe. No. I wanted a foolproof recipe that would sweeten up my cloudy day. So, I used the best chocolate chip cookie recipe that I know - The Nestle Tollhouse recipe. Yea Yea Yeah~~~ baby~~~
Can anything go wrong when you've got chocolate chip cookies? I don't think so~ :)

The Recipe

BTW, the myth about chilling the dough? Not a myth. I believe in it. Use these chocolate chip cookies to try this out and you'll know what I mean. I put'em in the fridge overnight. You can freeze the dough, too. Just transfer them to the fridge a few hours before you plan to bake them. They'll be as crispy as fresh bed of autumn leaves and goo-hoo-hooey on the inside. Enjoy. :)

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

2009-11-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

Every week, I have this routine. It is this: After church, I would go to a petrol station (that's gas station in the American language). There's this petrol station near my church that I can earn reward points from and also where I can get an amazing white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. Sometimes I'll go a little later in the day and their cookie won't be as fresh as I'd like but it still manages to kill it every week. But today, I thought I'd break out of that habit. I baked my own cookies. Yeah baby~ That's what it's all about, right?

As always, there were some choices but I thought my first attempt would be the recipe from allrecipes.com. Even on that site, I had many to choose from. I went with the one that looked the most promising with over 200 reviews rating it 4.5 stars out of 5. That's a pretty good grade, wouldn't you say?

This is a very delicate and light cookie. I also liked that it didn't overpower me with its sweetness.
Next time I will try chilling the dough before popping them in the oven. :)

White Chocolate Macadamie Nut Cookies

Allrecipes.com

1 C butter softened (225g) room temp (I used salted but you'd probably use unsalted)
3/4 C packed light brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
2 eggs room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used 1tsp of vanilla and no almond extract)
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I skipped this cuz I used salted butter)
1 C coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (I used about 130g which was perfect)
1 C coarsely chopped white chocolate (of course...I used whittaker's)

Preheat oven to 350deg F (175 deg C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until smooth using an electric mixer or a stand mixer.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time then stir in the vanilla and almond extract.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Do not overmix.
Fold in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate.
Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. (I made a big ball of about 1 1/2 inch drops)
Bake for 10 minutes or until the top is golden brown. (I baked for 11 minutes and watched the bottom of the cookie which turned golden brown. The dome of the cookies were very pale and inflated. The deflate as they cool)
Cool on pan for a few minutes then cool completely on a wire rack.
I made 28 cookies. :)

Double Chocolate Cookies

2009-11-05T01:10:00.001-08:00

So. I was thinking about how I could introduce these cookies to you. I thought may be something poetic like - if heaven existed on earth, it'd be these cookies. Or something more tangible like if Brad Pitt were a cookie, he'd be these (even though for me comparing them to John Krasinski or Jimmy Fallon would be more accurate). But I couldn't make up my mind so I'm just gonna say it straight: These cookies are a-mazing. I think my taste buds were surprised at such level of goodness. They're still in shock. Really. Let me put it this way. Think of the best chocolate chip cookie you've ever had. You thinkin' about the gooey, chewy cookie? The one that makes your mouth water just picturing it? I can confidently tell you that these cookies will take that cookie down any day of the week.
Have I convinced you yet?

This is Martha Stewart's recipe and I have to say, the lady knows her stuff.
A note about the dough. Although, I always try the dough before I pop my baking in the oven, I've never been a 'lick-the-bowl' kinda gal. I usually let the raw dough on my mixing bowl or whatever get washed away in the sink. But this dough - my goodness - I couldn't stop eating it!
It is velvety and shiny and quite irresistible.

Double Chocolate Cookies
Martha Stewart.com
Makes about 3 dozen (I made 2 dozen - but I made mine pretty big)

1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used sweetened - which made the cookies turn out a tad bit sweet but it was still mind-blowingly awesome so I think it's safe to use whichever)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp coarse salt (I skipped this cuz I used salted butter)
1/2 lb good-quality milk chocolate, 4oz coarsely chopped and 4 oz cut into 1/4 inch chunks (I used Whittaker's creamy milk chocolate and used 250g which is a bit more than the recipe calls for - if you can get your hands on Whittaker's USE THEM!)
1/2 (1 stick, 113 g) unsalted butter (I used salted)
1 1/2C sugar (I used caster)
2 large eggs - room temp
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 deg F/162 deg C.
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside
Melt 4 oz coarsely chopped chocolate with butter in a small heatproof bowl set over simmering water. Let cool slightly (I cooled it to lukewarm - close to room temp)
Put chocolate mixture sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until well combined. (I used a hand-mixer)
Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour until just combined. Fold in chocolate chunks
Using a 1 1/2 ice cream scoop, drop dough onto parchment0lined baking sheets. Leave 2 inch space between cookies.
Bake until the surface cracks - about 15 minutes. (I baked for 13 minutes in my oven). The cookies will be very soft to the touch and a little bit inflated when you take them out. It will deflate as you cool them on the pan. Let cool on pan for a few minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Can be stored airtight container at room temp up to 3 days.

Apple Bake

2009-10-17T03:10:00.001-07:00

Ah..the fun of enduring the fickle weather of this great metropolis. To be warm or not to be...to bucket down on thee or to shine down on thee...

Nevertheless, nothing's gonna snuff out my burning fire for baking yummy goodies. Not the cold nor the rain. No sirree~

And so, I present to you, my first apple bake. It all started with me buying a whole bunch of scrumptious lookin' apples. I had been enjoying the beautiful NZ apples the last month and was looking forward to these to be just as beautiful. But the batch I bought this time weren't nearly as sweet or scrumptious as its predecessors. So they've been sitting in my fridge for a couple of weeks and finally I found a fabulous recipe to rescue my apples: Smitten Kitchen's Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp.

As you can see in my pix that I skipped the granola because this was another spur of the moment baking. It was a 'let's use what I have' baking. So, I used orange mango lemonade instead of lemon juice and flour instead of cornstarch. They still turned out fabulous. I did use only half of the apples suggested by Smitten Kitchen (because that's what I had) but I didn't change the portions of any of the other ingredients.

These will be fantastic with yogurt for breakfast or just for snacking between meals. :)

Apple Bake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1.8lb apples, peeled, cored and cut into medium chunks
2 tablespoons of lemon juice (I used mango orange lemonade)
3 tablespoons sugar (I used granulated)
2 tablespoons cornstarch (I used a Korean brand flour which is used for coating tempuras - these are slightly seasoned flours with a bit of breadcrumbs)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (or 200 degrees C).
Mix apple chunks with all the ingredients in a 8X8 inch baking dish until evenly coated.
Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the apples are softened and bubbly.

Coconut Bread

2009-10-06T01:44:00.000-07:00

Too many recipes not enough time.
I think I will never escape that feeling as I weekly scrap recipe after recipe after recipe.
Well, here's one form a blog that I found out of sheer luck of blog hopping: The Wednesday Chef. People, if you enjoy a good 'read' you're missing out if you have not visited this blog. The Wednesday Chef is one witty writer, folks. I could click on any of the archives and I know I'm guaranteed to find something that would make me smile.

A disclaimer: This bread is for coconut lovers.
I will admit, this is my very first attempt at 'bread.' Therefore, my mistakes and ignorance must be taken into account. As a coconut lover, I am enjoying this bread immensely. However, this bread is drier and quite crumblier than I thought. I have no idea if it is supposed to be that way or if I had done something wrong. Nevertheless, I wake up every morning looking forward to a breakfast of coconut bread. I lightly toast it on my frying pan and coat it with jam, butter, or enjoy it as is. It goes famously with both milk and coffee.

Coconut Bread
From the Wednesday Chef (who adapted it from Bill Granger)

2 large eggs (room temp)
1 1/4 C milk (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 C flour, more for dusting (I used all purpose)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 C superfine sugar (I used regular sugar - is there a difference?)
5 ounces flaked coconut (about 1 1/2 C)
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (about 84grams)
Nonstick cooking spray or butter for pan
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla (I used an electric mixer for this step and then for the rest of the steps I stirred with a wooden spoon)
In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon. add sugar and coonut and stir to mix. Make a well in the center and pour in egg mixture.
Gradually mix with dry ingredients until just combined. Add melted butter and stir until smooth. Do not overmix.
Oil and flour an 8 1/2 x 4 in loaf pan. Pour batter into pan.
Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes then move to cooling rack.
Dust with confectioners' sugar or just enjoy as is.

Macaroni and Cheese

2009-10-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

I had a Bridget Jones-esque evening last night.
I turned thirty-one last Sunday (Happy Birthday to me!) and to celebrate, I had friends over and cooked for them. I hadn't done that in awhile due to busy-ness and may be, slightly, just a little bit of laziness. I had so much fun, though. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to cook for friends. Especially when they complement your cooking. If only I had two beautiful men fighting over me in a fancy restaurant in the middle of a bar mitzvah, that would have made the evening 'complete.'

I needed a recipe that is a classic that is bound to be well-recieved by any, a recipe that cannot go wrong. So I made mac-and-cheese from Martha - a recipe I saw on Smitten Kitchen. I think I'm a clever person just for picking this recipe. :) I had never had bread crumb-ed mac-and-cheese so I was a little apprehensive about adding the bread crumbs and almost skipped this step. But I am so so glad that I didn't. The crunchy-ness of the bread crumbs was total awesome-ness. I also used cheddar cheese only. I seriously could not find the Gruyere or Pecorino Romano at the supermarket. I don't know if I was supposed to go to a fancy-butt cheese store where people drink their tea with raised pinkies. But the pasta was still absolutely delicious.

I made 12 servings for 7 people. We did very well with that.
I served it with fresh garden salad and bread rolls. :)
This will definitely go into my permanent recipe box.

Mmmmm....Cheese fat...

Macaroni-and-Cheese
Adapted by Smitten Kitchen from Martha Stewart Living Cookbook

Goes well with steamed or fresh vegetables
Serves 12

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided, plus more for the casserole dish
6 slices of white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4 inch pieces
5 1/2 C milk (I used whole)
1/2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp coarse salt, plus more for the pasta boiling water
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 C (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
2 C (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyere or 1 1/4 C (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni (I used spiral pasta)

Preheat oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C). Butter 3-quart (9x13 inch) casserole dish.
Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat (or you can use the microwave to melt the butter). Pour melted butter over the bread crumbs. Toss and set aside.
Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
In a separate (bigger) saucepan, melt the remaining butter over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, stir in the flour. Cook for about 1 minute.
While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk into the butter mixture, a little bit at a time to keep the mixture smooth. Whisking constantly, cook until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick. This will take about 8-12 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper and 3 cups of cheddar and 1 1/2 C gruyere (or 1 C Pecorino Romano). Set cheese sauce aside.
Cover a large pot of salted water, bring to boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of the pasta is cooked but the inside is underdone, about 2-3 minutes. (I cooked a little more than that.) Drain the pasta and rinse it under cold running water. Drain well.
Stir the pasta into the cheese sauce then pour it into the casserole dish.
Sprinkle the pasta with the remaining cheese and then top it with the breadcrumbs.
Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Let the Pasta cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Happy Birthday to me! :)
I got carrot cake! Yummmmmm

Blondies

2009-09-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Another two-week holiday has started. It is raining cats and dogs and elephants outside.
We have a tsunami warning in New Zealand today. Did you know that? It is scary, folks.
I live about 15 minutes from the nearest beach. This used to be a good thing. But not today. Not good. I had to briefly think about what I'd miss if I died today. Oooohhh....too much serious thinking for the holidays.

'Nuff seriousness. Here's some sweetness.
I made blondies today. Blondies. haha...
I'm tempted to make a lame joke about how someone who has the opposite of blonde hair (total, pitch black hair) has made blondies today..(and loved them.) But such wit escapes me.
I had four pieces already. I may have to freeze them or something before I take another to my mouth.

Here's the recipe from 'Joy of Baking.'

As strange as this sounds,
the yolk looks really 'cute' to me.
Does it to you?

I used roasted, salted peanuts instead of pecans.
I was trying to use the peanuts up before they go stale.
They were delicious (I had no problems gobbling these babies down)
but I'd still like to try pecans next time...
oh and of course white choc chips which I also omitted
cuz I didn't have any...
(It was a spur of the moment baking...)

The before.....

And after....

I saw another renowned baker blogger
baking brownies in a cake pan...
So, I tried it, too. hee hee
They look pretty good, don't they? ;p

Cheesecake-marbled brownies

2009-09-11T20:51:00.001-07:00

In all honesty, peeps, I'm not a fan of 'marbled' stuff. It seems too ambiguous and hypocritical to me, ya know? Either be chocolate or vanilla but don't try to be both. Be honest! Be pure!
But when a great minded baker like Smitten Kitchen posts it on her blog and says it's bakable I humbly abide. I must. 'Tis the duty of a novice baker: Listen. Follow. Adjust.

I had to commit the sacrilege of not going by the recipe exactly. (Yeah, I'm very guilty of this in many of the bakings I attempt.) But, I have an excuse. I have this thing where I buy ingredients for a certain recipe and then am left with the remaining ingredients with fast approaching expiry dates. So to avoid the cycle of being left with left-over ingredients, again, I had to go ahead with what I had, hence the inevitable deviation from the original recipe.

Anyhoot, I was trying to find a recipe that would use up both the chocolate and the cream cheese that was about to expire - trying to kill two ingredients with one recipe. I had cupcakes in mind. Also cookies. Then I came across Smitten Kitchen's newly posted recipe. And I was done for.

The changes I made to the recipe are:
1. I used only 5 oz of cream cheese instead of 8 oz (because that's what I had)
2. I used a heck of a lot more chocolate then called for. I used ALL 230g of my Whittaker's Dark Mocha Chocolate. (I bought these to snack on, but the espresso in them were a bit too strong for snacking)

The result.
Whatcha think? Hm???
Totally awesome.
I absolutely loved the mocha chocolate in this. Not only that, the brownie itself was so moist and lovely. I would use less chocolate for the sprinkling on top next time (yes, less is more!) but the brownie was yumdy dum!! I was gonna take this to church tomorrow but......I'm thinking may be not. heee heeee.

Here's the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

May I interest you in the story of the below photographed knife?
'Twas my mother's and we've had it for about 10 years now.
My mother grew up in the sixties in Korea (post-war)
as a pastor's kid. So. She doesn't know how to 'discard' anything.
I still shock her with the things I throw out.
I sometimes tell her about what I'm trashing just to get a kick out of it.
Is this mean? :)
But really. I will never throw away this one (the knife, I mean).
It still works beautifully thanks to mom's diligent sharpening.

I sometimes would use a glad wrap again
or clean the take-out box to use as tupperware.
I never unconsciously FIND myself doing this.
I only do it when I'm thinking of my mother.

The below Mocha Chocolate will definitely be making
many more appearances in my baking.

The before....

...and after.

...I really need to work on my food presentation...
...true beauty lies within...but beautiful food still gets more attention....

Chocolate Yogurt Cupcakes

2009-08-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

So. I am not done with my quest. The chocolate cupcake one. :)

Today's cupcakes are secretly my second attempt. I didn't even blog about my very first test drive of this recipe coz my failure was too embarrassing for me to present on this public arena of a blog. :( (I still have my pride..yes I do yes I do...)

Today, I am happy to say that these were diddly-licious. "Moist" seems to be the buzz word for cupcakes but seriously. I do not enjoy cupcakes that are unnecessarily moist to the extreme, ya know? Luckily, these are fantastically 'just right' in its moistness. They are soft, light, a little sticky on the outside and gentle on the chocolate flavour.

I used Whittaker's milk chocolate just coz I wanted to try them out. (Although these were delicious, next time, I'll probably bake it with Whittaker's 62%) I also sprinkled chopped up roasted, salted peanuts on just four of the cupcakes - just in case they didn't taste right. :D

I think I may ban myself from making these cupcakes for awhile. These are too delicious for my weak will power. And I can't handle that when summer is lurking around the corner.

Yeah Yeah...I spilt some of the batter - which, by the way, is super delish.

Chocolate Yogurt Cakes
From simply recipes who got it from David Lebovitz's book "Sweet Life in Paris"

1 ounces (200g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2C unflavoured vegetable oil, divided (Didn't have unflavoured so I used regular.)
1/2 C plain, whole-milk yogurt
1 C sugar
3 large eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (I didn't have almond so I used vanilla)
1 1/2C flour (I used all-purpose)
1 1/2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
(I had some chopped roasted, salted peanuts)

Preheat oven to 350deg F (or 180 deg F). Line muffin tins.
In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, melt the chocolate with 1/4C vegetable oil until smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk baking powder, salt and flour.
In another bow, mix together the remaining 1/4C vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, yogurt, vanilla and almond extract.
Form a well in the four mixture and stir in the yogurt mixture then the melted chocolate. Stir until smooth.
Divide the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes or until the centre is barely set. (I baked for 22 minutes) - I sprinkled four cupcakes with the chopped peanuts before baking them.
Serve with whipped cream or your favourite frosting.

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-08-16T04:07:00.000-07:00

A hundred and twenty-seventh. This feels like my hundred and twenty-seventh chocolate chip cookie recipe that I've collected in the last month. I believe that I'm the last blogger to bake this recipe? That's okay. Cuz, if we reverse orders, it's like I'm first. I'm the first last person. :-P

The first time I saw this on Martha Stewart's site, I drooooooled and had to sit on my hands so that I won't run off and bake these. Finally, last night, I got to bake these gorgeous cookies. Aren't they gorgeous? :)

Want a bite? Go on. Take it! I won't tell. Shhhh :)

Yyyyyup! Whittaker's it is. Whittaker's.

LOVE the sight of chopped up chockies.
So beautiful.

Have you met my hand mixer, yet?
This is my bestest friend in the kitchen.
I plan on buying a stand-mixer in the future
but this one will always remain to be my very first mixer.
'Firsts' are some serious stuff.
First word
First love
First hand mixer... :) hee hee

These cookies are very honest. Half of the flour used in this recipe is bread flour and like a good ol' honest cookie, the bread flour is very evident when you take a bite. The bites were quite a mouthful. Thsee cookies aren't famously "crispy on the outside and chewy, gooey on the inside." But it's got its own charm, I'd say. If I were to personify them...I'd use the word...manly..?

They were gone in approximately two minutes. I only got to have two cookies. But I'm very happy with that. :) I find the best part about baking is watching others enjoy the goodies.

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies
*I halved this recipe.

1 lb unsalted butter
1 3/4 C granulated sugar
2 1/4 C packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 C plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
3 C bread flour
1 Tbs salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbs pure vanilla extract
2 lb Jacques Torres House chocolate or other best-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (60% cocoa)

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until wel combined.
Using a 4 oz scoop for larger cookies or a 1 oz scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 in apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 min for larger cookies and about 15 min for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

P.S. - I just found another choc chip cookie recipe. Dang it. Gotta sit on my hands again.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

2009-08-15T04:45:00.000-07:00

Introducing the 'it' cake of the pound cake world.
Peeps of the blog world, if you're reading this, first, thanks for scootin' by my humble blog, and second, you are about to witness me blog about one of my greatest finds since I started baking.
Presenting -----> (insert drum roll)"Cream Cheese Pound Cake!!" (Take a bow, cake, take a bow)

This cake is the Queen. It is tender, moist, and I could taste the subtle and beautiful flavour of cream cheese quietly coming through. How lucky am I that I found my favourite pound cake recipe in the second recipe I tried? I am Luck-eeeee.

Thank you thank you thank you Miss Smitten Kitchen for introducing this cake to me. Here's a 'fried blue' quote: "The key to successful baking is not in the baking itself, but knowing the right recipes and having a solid go-to baker." haha~ (May not be entirely true for all, but is currently true for me as a novice baker....I wonder when I stop being a novice baker...hmmm...) Smitten Kitchen is such a baker/blog/recipe for me. Even though she has no idea of my existence - I will thank her every time I bake this glorious cake. *Sigh*

LOOK at that texture!!
Look at that golden crispy top!!
*Sigh*

I was baking these for a fondu party my friend was having
so I chopped them up into fondu-able sizes.
Here they are ready to be transported to the party and fondued.

Can you tell? They are just dying to be eaten.

If you go to the Smitten Kitchen site, she has a strawberry coulis recipe to go with it. I'm sure it will be amazing. As for the fondu - this was PERFECT for fondu-ing. So, I imagine these will go great with chocolate ganache.

I halved the recipe but I'm going to write out the original.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake
From Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Staff Meals from Chanterelle

1 1/2 C unsalted butter at room temp (I used 'less salt softened butter' because they were easier to cream - can't seem to find softened unsalted butter...do they not exist? I reduced the amount of salt because I used this butter)
8 oz Philadelphia brand cream cheese at room temp
3 C sugar
6 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract plus 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (I just used all vanilla which is what the original original recipe had according to Smitten Kitchen.)
3 C all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a tube pan or a bundt cake pan. Sift flour and set aside. (I used a loaf pan)
Place the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar. Increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, at least five minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
Add the vanilla, almond, then the flour and salt all at once. Beat until just incorporated.
Pour the batter into the pan and even out the top with a spatula or by shaking the pan. bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. 1 1/4 hours.
Place the pan on a cake rack and cool for 20 minutes then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool.

*Note about the raw dough: try it.

Yogurt Marmalade Cake

2009-08-14T02:59:00.000-07:00

Pioneer Woman - one of the earlier blogs I discovered when I embarked on this magical journey of baking. Pioneer Woman's recipes cast a spell on me. When I see a new recipe on her blog, I think to myself, I must must must make that NOW. It's not because of her pizzazz of writing. And it's not because of her photography - although she takes amazingly beautiful pictures. The charm about her recipes is her passion and love for what she makes. In almost all of her recipe entries she commands the readers to immediately rush into the kitchen and make whatever it is she made that day. She tells us that it's the bestest and that we'll regret it if we don't. And as someone who does not want to go through life counting regrets (no no, I want to count many many cake and cookie triumphs) I feel a strong compulsion to do as I'm told and make her recipes. So, when the time came for me to bake for my co-workers, I turned to this yogurt marmalade cake that I'd been dreaming about since its been blogged.
I. was. excited.

I graciously made some mistakes while making this cake. I overbaked. :( How come no one tells you this? I used a chopstick to test the cake and the chopstick didn't come out clean. So even though the top of the cake looked finished, I left it in the oven a bit longer and BAM~! it turned brown on me. :( :( :( The chopstick still came out wet when I poked the cake, but after it cooled, the interior of the cake was perfect. Tse! So, I guess with pound cakes, the cake testing method isn't always accurate? I should judge by the exterior of the cake? What is up with that?

I doubled the recipe since I was feeding a lot of people. I had a very loooooooooong deliberation about whether to double the baking powder or not. I had hesitations because I couldn't remember seeing any recipe with that many teaspoons of baking powder. I google-researched and decided to go with the four teaspoons of baking powder. It was fine. :)

Anyway, even with my little mistakes, the cakes turned out fantastic. They were delicious and well-received by my friends at work.
Peeps.
If I may...
In the spirit of Pioneer Woman...
I command you to make this cake...NOW!? please..???

Even with its browned sides...isn't it BEA-U-tiful???

Yogurt Marmalade Cake
From Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 heaping cup of plain, lowfat yogurt
1 C sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 C Canola oil
Icing
1/2 C prepared orange marmalade
1/4 C yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray (or butter and flour) a loaf pan with nonstick baking spray.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
In a separate bowl, mix together yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and canola oil until just combined. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overbeat.
Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for a bit before taking the cakes out of the pan.
While cake is cooling, pour marmalade into pan. Heat until melted, stirring occasionally.
Add yogurt to pan and turn off heat. Stir to combine, then pour slowly over the top of the cake, allowing icing to pool around the side. (This will be an awesome sight)

Coconut Rice Pudding

2009-08-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

I am on a rice pudding roll.
Today, I made coconut rice pudding. yea yea yeah~ :D
Me love coconut in curry, cupcakes, cakes, chocolate (The Whittaker brand is amazing!), cookies, cold fabulous drinks and now in rice. The below recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com. I used the vanilla rice pudding recipe and made replacements with coconut cream instead of whole milk and shredded coconut instead of raisins (which I don't use in the vanilla pudding, anyway). I used 'light' coconut milk. I swear I bought this unintentionally. There are just too many of those low-fat and light stuff, I reached for this one by accident. I'm not against light or low-fat though. No No. I need to make sure the world knows this. My cereal is always served in super trim milk. I just prefer my sweet indulgences to be nice and sweet and fatty to compensate for all my healthy choices. With all that said the 'light' coconut milk worked like magic~ They were delicious.

Coconut Rice Pudding
Adapted from allrecipes.com

140 g uncooked white rice
475 ml (2C) coconut milk or cream, divided
65g (1/3C)white sugar
2g (1/2 tsp) salt
1 egg, beaten
1/3 shreded sweetened coconut
15 g (1 Tbsp) butter

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 C water to boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. (You can also use a rice cooker to cook the rice if you have that luxury)
In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 C cooked rice, 1 1/2 coconut cream/milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy (15-20min). Stir in remaining 1/2 C coconut milk/cream*, beaten egg and dessicated coconut. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly (very important). Remove from heat and stir in butter. Serve warm or chilled.

*You can skip adding the extra coconut milk here if you like your rice pudding to be thick. I've tried it both ways and I prefer mine to be creamy.

Chocolate Rice Pudding

2009-08-04T03:17:00.000-07:00

Rice pudding ranks near the top of my comfort food totem pole. They are gentle on the sweet. They satisfy my carbohydrate cravings. They're filling. And, of course, they're just delish. So when I had some left-over rice, I was more than ready to make my friend, rice pudding again. Despite my love for rice pudding, I've only managed to make one kind of rice pudding - vanilla. This will always remain my favourite kind of rice pudding, but I decided that today would be the day I'd make chocolate rice pudding.

So, away I went on my beautiful mac. I browsed a few recipes online and found a gazillion different variations. Excellent for my indecisive self. After much deliberation and mental simulations of the different recipes, I decided to go with cocoa powder. I used this recipe from allrecipes.com and then added one heaped tablespoon of cocoa powder when I added the butter and vanilla essence.

I was confident about this rice pudding cuz I was using some rockin' cocoa powder - which I've learned is paramount in any chocolate recipe - to use a rockin' cocoa powder.

The result: Yum-Yummidy-Dum~

I thought I'd give the tablespoon shot, a shot. :)

Hello, chocolate rice pudding! :D

Can you see the shadow of my camera? :-)

These can be enjoyed chilled or heated. So versatile, aren't they?

The Oxymoronic Chockies - bittersweet and dark

2009-08-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

My sweet appetite is heightened when I'm blessed with headaches. These headaches pay me annual visits during winter time in the form of sinus infection. (Of course my monthly cyclical visits cannot be left out..........) Today was one of those days and I was craving chockies like Willy Wonka. Since now I know how to bake, I was so very tempted to whip up choc chip cookies. But I knew that if I did bake cookies, I will probably chow down the entire batch and would have to wear sweats to work due to the expanded waistline. Anyhoo, my clever remedy to this was another one of New Zealand's finest creations: Whittaker's bittersweet 'dark' chocolate. Once again, I bought these for baking but they ended up being my snack chockies. They are oxymoronically (and appropriately) sweet and bitter. They offer you a kind but intense shot of chocolate. They come in massive 250-gram blocks and will silence any level of chocolate cravings.

I was popping these all day today. They saved me from cookie binging. So...thank you chockies. You saved my waistline.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2009-07-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

I'd like to let you in on one vigorous quest I've embarked upon in the last few days. The quest to find a yummmy-licious chocolate cupcake recipe. A very very valuable and an important quest. The world is always a better place with more chocolate cupcakes.

In the span of two days, I baked three different types of chocolate cupcakes. One that used sour cream, one that used vegetable oil, and one that used butter. Once again, my electric hand mixer overworked itself but boy was this experiment fun. Excellent for my waistline.

As it happens on quests, I have learned many valuable lessons about myself and cupcakes. For one, my doubts about veggie oil in baking have been overthrown. I know that for veteran bakers this is more than obvious information but for me, this was a great relief. Veggie oil works. Two, it isn't only lasagna that tastes better the next day. Despite the numerous disclaimers that say that the cupcakes taste best the day they're baked, I've found that every cupcake that I've baked tasted better the next day. Third thing I learned is that I'm a bit of an arrogant baker. Considering the fact that I've only just started baking, I take wayyyy too many liberties with the ingredients. The sour cream cupcakes probably didn't taste right because I made too many changes. Lesson learned. Add 'humility' to my next quest.

A quest for an important recipe is not complete without 'quality' judges. So I gathered a panel of highly qualified judges to present my bakings. (These people are skilled eaters and have been eating their entire lives.) The verdict was this: the butter cupcakes were totally 'rockin' but were overshadowed by the veggie oil cupcakes which were deemed 'amazing' by the panel.

Anyhoo,
Here are some pix for your amusement.

As you can see, I'm very skilled at frosting cupcakes.
If you need any badly iced cupcakes, please. Give me a buzz.

So I present to you Veggie Oil Cupcakes

Official Name: Black Magic Cake
from the Hershey's site

Ingredients:

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
3/4C Hershey's Cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 C buttermilk or sour milk
1 C strong black coffee or 2 tsp powdered instant coffee plus 1 C boiling water
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
**I added about 2/3 C of chocolate morsels to the batter (folded them in at the end) but they all sank to the bottom of the cupcakes. It still tasted good and my judges loved picking them off the paper cups.

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour muffin pans
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (batter will be very thin). Pour batter into pans.
Bake for 22-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool and frost as desired.

I used vanilla whipped cream to ice the cupcakes which people LOVED. They look amazing together, too.

Vanilla Whipped Cream

Beat 2 cups of heavy cream (fresh cream) in a chilled bowl until it thickens.
Add 3/4 cups of icing sugar (confectioners sugar) gradually as you continue to beat the cream.
Add 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla essence and keep beating until soft peaks form.
After you frost the cupcakes, if you're not eating them right away, make sure you keep the in the refrigerator as the cream will soften up and lose its form.

(Butter) Chocolate Cupcakes
swiped from Joy of Baking (A genius site for baking and presented with very kind and detailed instructions)

Ingredients

1/2 cup dutch-process cocoa owder
1C boiling hot water
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C unsalted butter, room temp
1 C granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Frosting

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 C unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/3 confectioners sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin cups with paper liners or butter them
In a small bowl stir until smooth, the boiling water and cocoa powder. Let cool to room temp.
In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a bowl of electric mixer or hand mixer, cream butter, sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating until smooth. beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
Fill muffin cups two-thirds with batter and bake for 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Frost when the cupcakes have cooled.
Makes about 12 cupcakes (I came out with 15)

Frosting

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a handmixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 min). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 min). Beat in vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2-3 minutes)

Life is great when you can have this much fun with cupcakes and chocolate. :)
Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.

Honey Lemon Cookies

2009-07-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

When I see 'lemon' in a recipe, I think delicate, sunny, light, sweet. And I needed some of those with my horrible sinus infection and the fickle fickle New Zealand weather. (C'mon! Make up your mind, already! Four seasons in one day - totally confusing!)

These cookies are closer to cake, like madeleines. They're very soft and subtle. And these aren't one of those cookies that would dazzle you at first bite (or sight). Rather, these will subtly grow on you like....your new jeans you have to wear a few times until you declare it your favourite......Just this morning, I, inadvertantly, ate four cookies in one sitting. Oooops!

The original recipe calls for sugar icing but I coated the cookies with chocolate ganache, instead. I had some cream that I needed to use up. The ganache, I liked very much. :) (Although, they are fantastic on their own, too)

Honey Lemon Cookies
From Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

7 Tbsp butter, softened (about 98g)
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C honey
1/4 C plain yogurt (I used sour cream because it's what I had)
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp lemon extract (I used 2 Tbsp of lemon juice because, again, it's what I had)
ICING
1 C confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon peel

What you do

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F
In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Combine honey, yogurt, lemon peel and lemon extract. Add dry ingredients to cream mixture alternately with honey mixture.
Drop by tablsponfuls 2 inches aprt onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks.
In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Brush over the warm cookies; sprinkle with lemon peel.

Chocolate Ganache (I made very little ganache, so you may want to double this recipe if you want to coat all of your cookies)

In medium-high heat cook 1/4 C of thickened cream to boil in a saucepan.
When the cream comes to boil and is smooth, turn the heat off and pour 100g of bittersweet dark chocolate chips into the saucepan and sir until all is smooth. Remove from heat and cool for about 30 minutes or until ganache is lukewarm.
When the cookies have cooled, spoon 1-2 tablespoons of ganache over cookies that are on a tray with parchment paper.
Refrigerate cookies until the ganache sets.

No Sugar Dark Chocolate

2009-07-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

I had a craving for the movie 'Prime' today. And so, I went into my kitchen searching for a sweet snack to accompany my movie. I settled for Richfield's 'no sugar' dark chocolate that I'd bought for baking. These were a new entity to me. On principle, I ignore all no sugar treats in the supermarket. If I'm snacking, I'm snacking for the sugar. But this was also a trust issue. I have great faith in Richfield's chocolates as they have never failed me...yet. And I'm glad I took the risk as these chocolates were exquisite. The absence of sugar gave room for the chocolate flavor to be more pronounced. I like to steer away from overused expressions that have lost its effect but I must stoop down today because there's no other way to say that these 'melt in your mouth.' And if you're looking for a 'melt in your mouth' movie, try out 'Prime.'

Okonomiyaki

2009-07-22T03:05:00.000-07:00

(A redo of Okonomiyaki blog entry)
I heard on one of the ted.com 'talks' that human beings are the only animal who can actually simulate experiences that hasn't happened yet - one of the reasons why we don't have a real 'mud' cake. It's because we can simulate the nasty taste without having to actually experience it. Something to do with the frontal lobe or whatever. :-P Anyhoo, as the theory of the frontal lobe goes, I was able to simulate the outcome of this recipe and knew I'd like this very much. And they tasted better than the simulation in my head, too. :)

Here's the recipe. You can be very creative with the recipe. They can probably be served in a hundred different ways. I've seen these sprinkled with chives, almonds, mayonnaise and thousand island.

Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pizza)
(Nicked recipe from 101 cookbooks)

2C cabbage, finely shredded
1C leeks, well washed and chopped (My GOODNESS, these were huge!!!! If I were a spring onion, I'd be soooooo intimidated by leeks.)
2/3 C whole wheat pastry flour (or apf flour) - I used "Korea pancake mix flour" - different from a regular pancake mix. This mix is used for Korean veggie pancakes (e.g. kimchi, chives etc). I used this cuz I reeeeallly love these Korean pancakes and the taste of this flour.)
A couple of pinches of fine grain sea salt
2 eggs, beaten
1+ Tbsp olive oil
Garnish: toasted silvered almonds, chives/herbs

Here's what you do:

Combine the cabbage, leeks flour, and salt in a bowl. Toss until everything is coated with a dusting of flour. Stir in the eggs and mix until everything is evenly coated.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add a generous splash of olive oil.
Scoop the cabbage mixture into the pan, and using a metal spatula press it into a round pancake shape, flat as you can get it. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the bottom is golden.
To flip, the okonomiyaki, slide it out of the skillet onto a plate. Place another plat on top and flip both (together) over. If you need a bit more oil in your skillet, add it now, before sliding the okonomiyaki back into the skillet.
again press down a bit with a spatula and cook until golden on this side - another 3-5 minutes.
When you are finished cooking, sprinkle with toasted almonds and chives, and slide it onto a cutting board to cut into wedges. Enjoy immediately.
Serves 1-2

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Cookies

2009-07-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

(A redo of Honey I Shrunk the Kids Cookie blog entry)
Remember the scene in 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' when the shrunken kids come across an oreo cookie in the backyard? These cookies look exactly like that cookie. Exactly.

I worked really hard with these cookies. Like really hard.
I used an electric hand mixer for all the food-processing steps and oh boy oh boy oh boy..it made up for not going to the gym. Definitely need to get me one of those food processors.

And. That damned cream. That damned cream just would not cream so I stood in my tiny little kitchen with my arm around my mixing bowl and the other hand trying to control the electric hand mixer to stay at an angle to keep my crumbly cream from going everywhere - which it did. I've got splashes of the cookie and cream mixes all over my kitchen walls. Nice.

I made these last night. With all that hard work, I had 'great expectations' for these cookies. I was pleased with the appearance - very 'Honey I shrunk the kids.' I wasn't so sure about how they tasted, though. But today, I think they actually taste a lot better than last night. I might do a rerun of these cookies..probably after I purchase a proper food processor. (Also, if I can find some proper vegetable shortening. I used 'shredded' shortening - have no idea if there's a big difference. I used this shortening cuz I couldn't find any other kind of shortening. Am I not looking hard enough or do New Zealanders not use veggie shortening?)

Anyhoo...
Here's the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

I'd like to dedicate these cookies to my electric hand mixer who worked really hard with me. Well done mixer. Well done.

Chocolate Crinkles - to make the world a better place

2009-07-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this movie? It's one of my favourites. It's definitely a unique movie that has ejected itself from the mainstream of Hollywood movies. It's got wit, charm, heart. I especially love the fact that the movie features writers and bakers. :)
In the movie, Will Ferrell meets a quirky baker, Maggie Gyllenhaal. And, of course, they meet to fall in love. (What other reason could there be??) Will Ferrell asks the quirky baker how she came to be baker and she replies that she initially wanted to be a lawyer to make the world a better place but dropped out of law school to become a baker. She figured that she would make the world a better place with cookies instead of with law as the latter wasn't working out for her. Isn't that great? Isn't that what all of us should strive to do with what we do, whether we end up where we planned to be or not? To make the world a better place - by baking, waitressing, or dog-walking, if we all did what we do with this mindset, we can totally improve the world, right?

So here's my contribution to healing the world and making a better place - Chocolate Crinkles. Yeah~I have nick-named these 'brownie cookies' - if you love brownies you cannot not love these little babies.

Chocolate Crinkles
adaptd from Joy of Baking (Stephanie Jaworski) -> Have you been to this site? It's totally amazing! I'll probably end up downloading all of the recipes on this site!!!

You need:

4 Tbsp (56g) unsalted butter
8oz (225g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 C (100g) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 C (210g) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
Topping: 1 C (110g) confectioners sugar, sifted
I didn't have enough chocolate to melt so I added 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder - I did see another Chocolate Crinkle recipe that added cocoa powder.

In a stainless steel bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (3-4hrs or overnight)
Preheat oven to 325 d F (170 d C) and place rack in the center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place the confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1 inch diameter ball. Place the ball of dough into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is completely coated and no chocolate shows through. Gently lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on prepared baking sheet. Place the cookies 2 inches apart. (If you find the dough getting too soft for rolling into balls, return to the refrigerator and let chil until firm) I was a little impatient (I wanted the cookies NOW) so I stuck the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes. The dough was very flaky so I took the amount I needed for a cookie and squeezed them a few times with my hands like I was playing with a playdough and it was quite easy to mold.
Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking will give you dry cookies) Leave on the pan until the cookies are set. Place on a wire rack to cool.
Makes about 3 dozen.

P.S. - I had my first baking burn today. I burned my index finger and thumb. Now, I'm a real baker..right?

Tuna Kimbap (Korean Sushi)

2009-07-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

I discovered David Lobovitz yesterday. Apparently a big name in the food blogging world and on the blog roll of many of my favourite blogs so I took a gander at his blog and discovered that he loves Korean food. That did it for me. Now he is on my blog roll.

Anyway, on to the 'fooooooood.' I love baked goods but when it comes to the main meals, I veer towards Asian. So, here's a great Korean recipe for Tuna Kimbap (Korean for sushi).
This is the lunch I made along with the lemon cupcakes. (A very sensible food combo. I know~) Just a note - this is not your traditional Korean kimbap. I guess this is classic 'fusion food.'

Recipe from Maangchi.com (here's a video of this recipe by Maangchi herself!)

You need:

Sushi rolling bamboo mat
5-6 cups of cooked rice (made from 3 cups of uncooked rice)
laver ("kim" aka the seaweed stuff)
yellow radish pickle ("danmu ji" in Korean - can get it at almost any Korean stores)
1 avocado - skinned and chopped into long strips
1 C crabmeat
can of tuna (in water or oil)
1/4 C of sesame oil for glazing
For the tuna: 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil, 1 Tbsp sesame seeds, 1 green onions chopped up into little bits
For the rice: 1/2 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp white vinegar

Rice
*Traditionally, Kimbap rice, unlike sushi rice, is served plain . This is because the contents in Kimbap are very well seasoned. But somewhere along the way, people started to season Kimbap rice. Tse!

Put the cooked rice in a large bowl
Make your mixing sauce by mixing up the sugar, salt, and vinegar. Mix until the liquid looks clear (I used sushi vinegar which was fine)
Mix the mixing sauce with rice and stir it evenly.

Tuna

Drain the canned tuna.
Put the tuna on a heated pan and drizzle about 1 Tbsp of sesame oil over it. Toss it and cook it for 2 minutes.
Add soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and black pepper. Cook for another 3 minutes while stirring.
Remve from heat. Add green onions, the remaining sesame oil, and sesame seeds.
This should be very flaky.

Rolling Kimbap

Place a sheet of laver ("kim") on the bamboo mat and evenly spread a layer of rice in the centre. (Refer to the illustration - my pic of unrolled kimbap may not be helpful...still learning here.)
Place 2-3 spoons of seasoned tuna flakes on top of the layer of rice in a strip. Add radish, avocado, and crap meet in the same way on top of each other.
Roll it up using the bamboo mat. Glaze the Kimbap roll with some sesame oil. You can use your hand or a brush for this.
Cut the roll into 2-cm pieces.

*Tip: Have a wet cloth to wipe the knife while cutting. This makes it easier to cut the kimbap rolls.

Trust me. These are very yummy. You'll be the hit of the international potluck party. :D

S'mores Brownies

2009-07-06T04:08:00.000-07:00

So, here's another great concoction by one of my favourite baker bloggers "Joy the Baker" S'mores Brownies. S'mores is American. And luckily I've actually had an authentic s'mores in America with American marshmallows cooked on an American campfire. So. I deem myself totally qualified to make this divine creation.

I have to say, I was so, so, sooooooo excited to be making this. This is my second recipe tried from Joy the Baker.

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 C unsalted butter
6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I used bittersweet Whittaker chocolate - a very wonderful NZ brand)
5 large eggs
1 1/4 C dark brown sugar (I couldn't find 'dark' brown sugar so I used regular brown sugar...how dark are these anyway??)
1 C granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 C graham cracker, roughly crushed with your hands (I used Digestives as Kiwis don't eat graham crackers. I personally prefer Digestives over graham crackers for regular snacking, although, they are virtually the same kind of crackers)
12 big marshmallows (Joy the Baker says she diced 6 additional marshmallows and stirred them into the batter and that these dissolve when baked. I didn't use these. I thought the batter was sweet enough as it is)
(I chopped up about 2 oz of chocolate and folded them in with the graham crackers because I like chocolate in brownies and also I'd bought an 8 oz chocolate bar, which means I had 2 oz left after melting the required 6 oz. :-P)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 9x13 inch baking pan with 2 inch sides. (butter bottom and sides with a brush) Combine the first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Stire butter and chocolate in medium sized bowl over a heavy saucepan of simmering water. Stire chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.
Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Stir in warm chocolate mixture, then dry ingredients. Fold in graham crackers. Pour batter into prepared pan. Dot with 12 large marshmallows. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30-40 minutes.
Marshmallows will be browned and puffy but will deflate as the brownies cool. Cool for at least 20 minutes then slice with sharp knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy and sticky.

My entire house smells of brownies right now. I just cut them up and put'em in a container. It was so hard not to take a bite while doing this. Mmmmmm~~!! :)
The brownie was surprisingly not as sweet as I imagined. I mean, check out the sugar content! But the crackers were very plain so I think that balanced it out. I was really looking forward to a crispy bite of the crackers but they became like bread once baked. The marshmallows: Kiwi marshmallows are very different from the American ones so I was a little apprehensive about these but these added the unique flavour and fun to the brownies. I liked them. (edit: These are actually superbly sweet. A couple of glasses of milk should be in session when you're indulging in them.)

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

2009-07-03T19:41:00.001-07:00

Joy the Baker has become one of my favourite blogs to visit. Not only does she concoct unique and yummy looking recipes, she's a discreetly talented & funny writer. Just yesterday, I came across this flourless peanut butter cookie recipe on her blog and was itching to try them out. I also had a jar of peanut butter that I had since last December and this was about to expire. So, it was the perfect recipe.

Here it is:
1 C all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter
1C sugar (1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 granulate sugar) - I used 1/3 of each, ending up with 2/3 of sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (about 180 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, mix for about 2 min. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 min. Roll into walnut sized balls and create a criss-cross pattern with a fork. Remember to leave room between the cookie drops because they spread. As you can see in the picture, I forgot to do that!

If you'd like, add a few chocolate pieces to the top of the cookies. (I added the wrong kind of chocolate and they didn't melt!!! - as you can see in the picture. :P) Bake for 10 minutes until lightly browned (My oven took 15 minutes). When they're right out of the oven, they will look bloated and will feel too soft. It will calm down and harden as it cools. Cool on baking sheet before enjoying them.

The cookies would do better with the name biscuits. They were cripy, airy, and very, very light. I personally prefer dense, chewier cookies but I'm sure these will grow on me. I still gobbled down two cookies. :D

(21 July) I now realise that the choclates need to be smeared with a spoon or a knife after it's been baked. ah..........

"Real" Honey Lemon Tea

2009-07-03T03:25:00.000-07:00

(I've never been embarrassed by my photography skills. I rate myself an average photographer and I think I generally take acceptable and occasionally fabulous pictures. But I am embarrassed about this one and I do apologise for the very blurry picture.)

Anyhoo, the point is that I have found the best way to make honey lemon tea --> It is to squeeze real lemon! I may be the last person on the planet to have discovered this but I don't care. I've been sniffing and sneezing with a very sore throat in the last week and these saved my life. I believe them to be superior to Lemsip and any other flu remedy out there.
So in more recipe-like language, this is what I did. First, I squeezed a lemon into a mug. (my lemon was the size of an egg) Then I poured hot water (or just regular black tea or your fave tea would work here) into the mug followed by honey. Then I happily stirred with great anticipation. Finally, sip sip~

I bought a bunch of lemons for cupcake baking and had a lot left and was thinking about what else I could make with lemons besides cupcakes. Honey Lemon Teaaaaaa .... mmmmmmmmmmm

Old Fashioned Recipe Books: Scrapping!

2009-07-02T03:03:00.000-07:00

When I tell people that I started baking, they think that I probably have my laptop in the kitchen when I'm baking. But that is not true. I am an old-fashioned girl. I re-type (or copy/paste) my recipe on my awesome "Print Shop 2," make it pretty with pictures, print them out, and glue them into my recipe scrapbooks. :)

I've got two cupcake/dessert recipe books and one non-dessert recipe book. I cannot wait to try all of these recipes!!!

Please invite me to a potluck!

Lemon Cream Cupcake Recipe

2009-07-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we were introduced to a missionary who had just lost his wife and thus had to come back to New Zealand. He was having the funeral at our church today and we (the congregation) received an email for help - for baked goods for their afternoon tea. I, very happily and respectfully, volunteered and planned to make cupcakes for this occasion.

I absolutely loved my first lemon cupcakes but came across this other lemon cupcake recipe that was getting rave reviews. So, I decided to venture out and bake this one.

With frosting, I also decided try something I haven't before - Dark Chocolate Ganache. This was another interesting experience.

Here's the recipe - adapted from "Hometown Cooking"

Cupcake Ingredients:

3 1/2 C all-purpose flour/cake flour (I used this)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C (226g) butter softened and at room temp
1 1/2 C granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (I used 1 tsp only)
3 eggs
8 oz (226g) dairy sour cream
2 tsp lemon zest
(I also added 2 Tbsp lemon juice just because I wanted to taste the lemon more strongly)

Dark Chocolate Ganache Ingredients

1 C thickened cream
400g bittersweet dark chocolate

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line cupcake pans with paper cups.
Combine flour, baking powder + soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter with a mixer then add sugar and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and sour cream (and lemon juice if you're adding it) alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition is just combined. (Do not overmix!) Stir in lemon peel. The batter will be very thick)
Spoon about 1/4 cup of the batter into each cup. Bake about 18 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Break chocolate into small pieces and put in a small bowl.
Put the crea into a saucepan and bring to boil.
Pour cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted.

The cupcakes were not as light and fluffy as my other lemon cupcakes. It also lacked a lot of lemony flavour. It was still light and fluffy but more dense and very soft. The texture was definitely completely different. Also, my lemon cupcakes had a very buttery aftertaste but with this cupcake, I could not taste the butter as strongly. I know which one I personally prefer but I think it comes down to preference.

The Chocolate Ganache - now I know that I need to use fresh cream (heavy whipping cream) rather than the thickened cream (and most Ganache recipes call for heavy cream unlike this recipe). The thickened cream was so thick that the frosting started hardening a lot faster than I was ready for - I could not use my piping tube! I also ended up having bits of unmelted chocolate in my frosting.. :(
I've seen other Ganache recipes using butter (probably about 2-3 table spoons - melted in with the cream) but I opted not to do that. Other than the mistake of using thickened cream this is a great chocolate frosting. It's pure chocolate unlike 'chocolate butter cream frosting' and the like.

A little story. I had to drop these off in the morning before work so the frosting was made in the morning but the cupcakes were made last night. I was in the middle of prepping my ingredients to bake the cupcakes and as I was spooning my butter, I realised I didn't have enough. I had all my ingredients laid out (eggs cracked and everything) and was short of butter. I had a tub of shortening but could not bring myself to use it so, I stopped, left all my ingredients out in the open, drove out to a supermarket and bought the butter, came back and continued baking. :D Ahhhh the joy of living with my anal-retentive self. :)

I was disappointed I could not use my new piping tube but I know I'll get to use it in the very near future...hopefully... :)

Night Baking....

2009-07-01T03:44:00.000-07:00

Right now, I am waiting for my cupcakes to cool. The above cupcake was what I was baking...I didn't read the recipe very carefully and didn't realise that they would rise a lot more than my other cupcake recipes...so they look like muffins... :( I'm a cupcake person NOT a muffin person...will compensate with beautiful icing tomorrow morning.

More Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips

2009-06-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

Another link to an article by Dessert First. This one is quite awesome, if you've been searching for the perfect choc chip cookie recipe. Not only does it give you tips but the article also discusses the effects of the different ingredients. Four choc chip cookie recipes were trialed and the differences were compared. Here is the awesome article. Chocolate Chip Cookies Rock!!!

How to ice a cupcake

2009-06-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

Great tips on how to prepare the piping bag with icing as well as basic 'how-to' for icing a cupcake. Useful for real baking novices. :)

Lemon Cupcakes to die for~

2009-06-28T04:17:00.000-07:00

So. Today I was in charge of lunch for my church small group. This taking-turns-to-make-lunch tradition had started before I joined the group so I was thrown into the deep end with my non-cooking self...nonetheless, I've decided to take full advantage of this chance to cook for about 18 people and practise my baking. So I tried out my slight variant of Martha Stewart's Lemon Cupcake recipe...the result? Amazing! I know I should be more modest about my cupcakes but they really were really yummy!! Yum~ Yum~
So without further ado, here's my beautiful recipe:

Ingredients:

3 Cups of self-rising flour
230g softened unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 Cups of caster sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
1 Cup of whole milk (close to room temperature)
2-3 Tablespoons of lemon zest
2 1/2 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to about 190 degrees Celsius. Line your pan with paper cupcake liners. Sift flour and salt.
2. With an electric mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time. (Crack the eggs on a separate bowl first so that you can fish out any shells) Beat each egg until fully incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
4. Beat in zest and vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk and lemon juice. Mix until the mixtures are just combined. Do not overmix as that will create very tough cupcakes.
6. Fill the cupcake liners only three-quarters full.
7. My oven baked for about 17 minutes. To test if the cupcakes are ready, insert a toothpick in the centre of a cupcake and the toothpick should come out clean. Or push down on the cupcake - if the bread springs back up right away, they are ready.
8. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan before taking them out to put on a cooling rack.

**Use the upper part of the oven
**Turn the pan around half way through the baking to ensure even baking
**If baking with one pan, ensure that the pan has cooled down before putting it back in. I used two baking pans and put the remaining one in the fridge for it to cool down faster.

Frosting:
Ideally, you should use buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting. But I didn't think buttercream frosting would have done well with a Korean crowd, so I decided to improvise and create a lemon whipped cream. They went very well with the lemon cupcakes and I think it was quite well received by my Koren friends.

Lemon Whipped Cream Icing

Ingredients:

2 Cups Heavy Cream (I used fresh cream which I found is virtually the same thing) - make sure the cream is cold
3/4 icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
1 1/2Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. At low speed, beat cream in a chilled bowl until it begins to thicken
2. Gradually add the icing sugar and lemon juice
3. On high speed beat until soft peaks form.

*If the cupcake is to be served hours later, they must be refrigerated because of the frosting...or did everybody know that already? Apparently, the whipped cream does not do well being out for too long
**For baking novices (like moi) 'beat until soft peaks form' means beat until you can create a soft, stable peak when scooping the cream - (I had to look up what this means. :P)

Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy~ Ahhhhhhhhhh..............

A Mother's Fight Against....Great Food!

2009-06-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

I found these interesting clip and article about a mother who is fighting against schools to ban cupcakes or any other 'great' treats from the classrooms. I found myself rolling my eyes just reading/listening about her. Even in New Zealand we are not allowed to hand out candies or cupcakes at school but no one goes crazy if that 'accidentally' happens occasionally. But this woman is a whole other story. She's not just a typical mother wanting her kids to eat healthy snacks.
Here is a video clip of her interview and here's a written interview with her by the Observer.

No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner - home of IronCupcake:Milwaukee

2009-06-16T17:51:00.001-07:00

(Above photo from the article link below)

Here's a link to a fantastic series of cupcake disaster photos posted by an accomplished baker - a great relief for ordinary bakers like me that the worst does happen to the best of bakers. :)
No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner - home of IronCupcake:Milwaukee

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Article Link: The Quest for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-06-15T23:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a New York Times article on the Quest for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. Food journalism. Loooove it! :)

Creamy Rice Pudding Recipe! Mmmmmm......

2009-06-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

This recipe was trialed TODAY and OMG, OMG totally awesome! I looooove rice pudding and used to live on rice pudding in the summer in LA - they had great choices of rice pudding in the LA mega supermarkets... In New Zealand, they don't seem to be very popular as the only ones I could find were canned rice pudding. Yuck~! And they taste as bad as they sound, too.
Anyhoo, homemade ones are far superior to any of the supermarket puddings so here's the recipe I tried out today!

***This recipe is from allrecipe.com***
Ingredients:

140g uncooked white rice
475ml (2 Cups) of milk
65g white sugar
2g (about 1/2 tsp) of salt
1 egg, beaten
(optional) 110g golden raisins
15g (about 1 Tbsp) of butter
about 1/2 Tbsp of vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of water to boil. Add rice and stir. When the water boils let it boil for a couple of minutes than reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes occasionally stirring so the rice doesn't stick too much to the pot. (You can cook the rice in a rice cooker if you have it. But make sure it is freshly cooked rice.)
In a new saucepan, combine the cooked rice, 1 1/2 cup of milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, constantly stirring so the rice doesn't stick. This should take about 15-20 minutes.
Stir in the remaining milk and beaten egg and raisins(optional). Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
Serve warm or chilled.

*Substitutes for low calorie pudding: Skim milk instead of whole milk (the taste quality does go down quite a bit); Splenda instead of sugar (you'd have to use 1/3 of the amount); margarine instead of butter or eliminate butter entirely